ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
possibly from bum (to give a beating to, especially as a punishment) + feague (to beat, to whip)
EXAMPLE
“…I wil presently proue both maior and minor of this sillogisme. And hold my cloake there sombody, that I may go roundly to worke. For ise so bumfeg the Cooper, as he had bin better to haue hooped halfe the tubbes in Winchester, then write against my worships pistles…”
From: The Marprelate Tracts
‘Penned and compiled by Martin the Metropolitane’
Hay Any Worke for Cooper, 1523
Lexicophilia 