1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. 'The Wedding Day.' A mighty magnificent tub Of what men, in our hemisphere, term 'Humming Bub,' But which gods—who, it seems, use a different lingo, From mortals, are wont to denominate 'Stingo.'
1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. vii. Wegg, in coming to the ground, had received a humming knock on the back of his devoted head.
Hump, verb. (common).—1. To
spoil; to botch; to do for.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 252. To hump in street parlance, is equivalent to 'botch,' in more genteel colloquialism.
2. (colonial).—To shoulder and carry. E.g., To hump one's swag = to shoulder one's kit.
1886. Daily Telegraph, 1 Jan. Ladies whom I have met humping their own drums.
1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66. A large blanket rolled up which contains the personal luggage of the man who carries or humps it.
1887. G. A Sala in Illus. Lon. News, 12 Mar., 282/2. All kinds of luggage, generally speaking, which are manually carried, are at present said to be humped. I have had to hump mine many a time and oft.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ch. xxii. We humped our saddles and swags ourselves.
1890. Family Herald, 8 Feb., p. 227. I was just debating whether I had better hump my drum.
3. (old).—See quot. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hump, to hump. Once a fashionable word for copulation
To hump oneself, verb. phr. (American).—To stir; to prepare for attack; to fancy oneself.
1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc. p. 177. Ef thar are anything he humps hisself on besides ugly, it is his manners among the fimmales.
1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 126. He was breathin' sorter hard, his eye set on the Governor, humpin' himself on politics
To get (or have) the hump, verb. phr. (common).—To be despondent, hurt, put out, down in the mouth (q.v.). Also, to have the hump up or on. For synonyms, see Snaggy.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, Works, v., 267). So in his humps about it . . . that he had thought to have tumbled his hurrie-currie . . . into the sea.
1885. Punch, 10 Jan., p. 24. I had got the 'ump, and no error, along o' Bill B. and that gal.
1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 43. The company consume what will be elegantly referred to as 'a bit of booze.' Aunt Snapper gets the 'ump.
1886. Jerome, Idle Thoughts, p. 14. 'Arry refers to the heavings of his wayward heart by confiding to Jimee that he has got the blooming hump!
Humpey, subs. (Australian).—See
quot.
1893. Gilbert Parker, Pierre and his People, p. 135. McGann was lying on his back on a pile of buffalo robes in a mountain hut. Australians would call it a humpey.
Humphrey, subs. (American
thieves').—A coat with pocket
holes but no pockets.—Matsell.
To dine with Duke Humphrey. See Dine, Sir Thomas Gresham, and Knights.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 18. I . . . retired me to Paules, to seeke my dinner with Duke Humfrey.
1843. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, i., 1. Dines oftener with Duke Humphrey than anybody else, I believe.
Humpty-dumpty, subs. (colloquial).—1.
A short and thick-set
person; a grundy (q.v.); a
hunch-back. For synonyms, see
Forty Guts.
