1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act I., p. 7 (2nd Ed.). Your fellows of colleges are a parcel of sad, muzzy, humdrum, lazy, ignorant old caterpillars.
d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), 'A Familiar Epistle.' So frothy, vapid, stale, humdrum.
1765. C. Smart, Fables, xv., line 5. Content in humdrum mood t'adjust Her matters to disperse the dust.
1774. Foote, Cozeners, i., 1. Not one, madam, of the humdrum, drawling, long winded tribe.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, ii., 1. Yet am I by no means certain that she would take me with the impediment of our friends' consent, a regular humdrum wedding, and the reversion of a good fortune on my side.
d. 1823. Bloomfield, Poems, 'Richard and Kate' (1825), p. 89. Come, Goody, stop your humdrum wheel.
1825. Harriet Wilson, Memoirs, iii., 237. You are, in fact, too constant for Paris. One has enough of all that hum-drum stuff in England.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxi. The most fervent Liberals, when out of power, become humdrum Conservatives, or downright tyrants or despots in office.
1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 23. Giddy people may think the life I lead here staid and humdrum, but they are mistaken.
1893. Standard, 8 Aug., p. 4, col. 6. The thing, in his view, is to rattle off something pretentious, and avoid the humdrum and tiresome methods which statesmanship of the pre-Home-Rule period used to respect.
Humdurgeon, subs. (old).—1. An
imaginary illness.—Grose.
2. (common).—Needless noise; ado about nothing.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxiii. I would never be making a humdudgeon about a scart on the pow.
Humdurgeoned, adj. (old).—Annoyed.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford. Don't be humdurgeoned but knock down a gemman.
Humguffin (common).—A hob-*goblin.
Also a derisive address.
Humgumptious, adj. (obsolete).—See
quot.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Hum. A knowing sort of humbug is humgumptious.
Hummer, subs. (old).—1. See quot.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hummer, a loud Lie, a Rapper.
1725. New Cant. Dict. s.v.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hummer (s.) a great, monstrous, or notorious lie.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
2. (American).—A man or woman of notable parts; a high stepper (q.v.); a good goer (q.v.). Cf., Rustler.
1889. Ally Sloper, 6 July. If Tootsie is anything as lively as the 'Gaiety Girls,' she must be a hummer.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. xvii. I just wanted to see my Tillie dance once. She's a society hummer now.
3. (obsolete).—See Humbug, sense 3.
Humming, adj. (old). Strong—applied
to drink; brisk—applied
to trade; hard—applied to
blows. Humming October =
the specially strong brew from the
new season's hops; stingo (q.v.).
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Humming Liquor, Double Ale, Stout, Pharoah.
1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, iv., 2. The wine was humming strong.
1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, iii., 4. Landlord, how fares it? You seem to drive a humming trade here.
1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, ch. vii. Let us fortify our stomachs with a slice or two of hung beef, and a horn or so of humming stingo.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. A humming double pot of ale.
