hump

[huhmp]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hump ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a rounded protuberance, especially a fleshy protuberance on the back, as that due to abnormal curvature of the spine in humans, or that normally present in certain animals, as the camel or bison.

Physical Geography.

a low, rounded rise of ground; hummock.
a mountain or mountain range.

Railroads. (in a switchyard) a raised area down which cars pushed to its crest roll by gravity and momentum for automatic sorting through a series of preset switches.

Slang: Vulgar.

an act or instance of coitus.
a partner in coitus.

the hump,

British Slang.a fit of depression or bad humor: to get the hump.
(initial capital letter)(in World War II) the Himalayas.

verb (used with object)

to raise (the back) in a hump; hunch: The cat humped its back.

Railroads. to sort (cars) by means of a hump.

Informal. to exert (oneself) in a great effort.

Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.

Slang.

to place or bear on the back or shoulder.
to carry or haul.
to load or unload; lift.

verb (used without object)

to rise in a hump.

Informal. to exert oneself; hustle or hurry.

Slang: Vulgar. to engage in sexual intercourse.

Idioms

over the hump, past the most difficult, time-consuming, or dangerous part or period: The doctor says she's over the hump now and should improve steadily.

Origin of hump

First recorded in 1700–10; probably abstracted from humpbacked

Related formshump·er, nounhump·less, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for hump

knob, protrusion, ridge, hunch, bulge, protuberance, prominence, mound, dune, bump, excrescence, elevation, eminence, swell, hill, kyphosis, hummock, knap, tumescence, gibbosity

Examples from the Web for hump

Contemporary Examples of hump

Diplomatic dispatches at the time, written by men who had no reason to lie to their own rulers, reported no hump or withered arm.
Unraveling King Richard III’s Secrets
February 13, 2013
Also 2004: John Kerry kept it close but never got over the hump.
Barack Obama’s Cockiness Problem in His Contest With Mitt Romney
Michael Tomasky
April 17, 2012
Despite 20 years of cycling between expectation and disappointment, I hump along with that aim in mind.
Author to Bestsellers: Drop Dead
Valerie Frankel
September 19, 2011
In the former Bill Hurt longed to hump you and in the latter a large dog did just that in your role as an animal trainer.
Kathleen Turner's New Broadway High
Kevin Sessums
April 17, 2011
Of course, not even a new Contract With America may be enough to help Republicans over the hump in 2010.
The GOP Replays 1994
Samuel P. Jacobs
October 12, 2009

Historical Examples of hump

The only height she remembered was the Puy de Dome, rounded off at the summit like a hump.
His Masterpiece
Emile Zola
We should have to hump treble the weight of the lime we should get after burning them.
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2)
William Delisle Hay
And then we should have to hump the lime at least half a mile up from the beach.
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2)
William Delisle Hay
I should want my camel on wheels, with a railin' around his hump.
Galusha the Magnificent
Joseph C. Lincoln
If we hump ourselves we ken cross the divide afore the road is blocked.
Snow-Bound at Eagle's
Bret Harte

British Dictionary definitions for hump

hump

noun

a rounded protuberance or projection, as of earth, sand, etc

pathol a rounded deformity of the back in persons with kyphosis, consisting of a convex spinal curvature

a rounded protuberance on the back of a camel or related animal

the hump British informal a fit of depression or sulking (esp in the phrase it gives me the hump)

over the hump past the largest or most difficult portion of work, time, etc

verb

to form or become a hump; hunch; arch

(tr) British slang to carry or heave

slang to have sexual intercourse with (someone)

hump one's swag Australian and NZ informal (of a tramp) to carry one's belongings from place to place on one's back

Derived Formshumplike, adjective

Word Origin for hump

C18: probably from earlier humpbacked

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hump

1680s (in hump-backed), from Dutch homp "lump," from Middle Low German hump "bump," from Proto-Germanic *hump-, from PIE *kemb- "to bend, turn, change, exchange." Replaced, or perhaps influenced by, crump, from Old English crump. A meaning attested from 1901 is "mound in a railway yard over which cars must be pushed," which may be behind the figurative sense of "critical point of an undertaking" (1914). Humpback whale is from 1725.

"to do the sex act with," attested from 1785, but the source of this indicates it is an older word. Meaning "to raise into a hump" is from 1840. Related: Humped; humping.

Idioms and Phrases with hump

hump

see over the hump.