hump

Probably borrowed from Dutch homp (“hump, lump”) or Middle Low German hump (“heap, hill, stump”), from Old Saxon *hump (“hill, heap, thick piece”), from Proto-Germanic *humpaz (“hip, height”), from Proto-Indo-European *kumb- (“curved”). Compare Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb-, *ḱewb- (unnasalised root), and English hub (a softened variant without nasal?).

Cognate with West Frisian hompe (“lump, chunk”), Icelandic huppur (“flank”), Welsh cwm (“a hollow”), Latin incumbō (“to lie down”), Albanian sumbull (“round button, bud”), Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “bowl”), Avestan 𐬑𐬎𐬨𐬠𐬀 (xumba, “pot”), Sanskrit कुम्ब (kúmba, “thick end of bone”)). Replaced, and perhaps influenced by, Old English crump (“crooked, bent”). More at cramp.

• IPA^(key): /hʌmp/,

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmp

Camels have humps on their backs.

hump (plural humps)

1. A mound of earth.
2. A speed bump or speed hump.
3. A deformity in humans caused by abnormal curvature of the upper spine.
4. (US, animals) A rounded fleshy mass, such as on a camel or zebu.

   Synonym: bulge

5. (vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
6. (British, slang, with definite article) A bad mood.

   She's got the hump with me.

   Go away! You're giving me the right hump.

7. (slang) A painfully boorish person.

   That guy is such a hump!

8. A wave that forms in front of an operating hovercraft and impedes progress at low speeds.

• (abnormal deformity of the spine): gibbous, humpback, hunch, hunchback

hump (third-person singular simple present humps, present participle humping, simple past and past participle humped)

1. (transitive) To bend something into a hump.
   • 1885, Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman:

     The cattle were very uncomfortable, standing humped up in the bushes.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To carry (something), especially with some exertion.
   • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 14:

     For travellers have to carry bags, / And swagmen have to hump their swags / Like bottle-ohs or ragmen.

3. To rhythmically thrust the pelvis in a manner conducive to sexual intercourse.
   1. (transitive, intransitive) To dry-hump.

      Stop humping the table, you sicko.

   2. (vulgar, slang, transitive, intransitive) To have sex (with).
4. (US, slang, dated) To exert oneself; to make an effort.
   • 1917, Hart Crane, letter, in Complete Poems & Selected Letters, Library of America 2006:

     Lessons are keeping me humping now, and will probably do so all summer.

5. (slang, dated) To vex or annoy.
6. (rail transport) To shunt wagons / freight cars over the hump in a hump yard.
   • 1960 July, G. Freeman Allen, “Margam yard - the most modern in Europe”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 405, 407:

     In the first phase of the new yard's operation, from March 6 last, it was wisely decided to restrict the yard's use to allow for any "teething" ailments with complex electronic gadgets, so when I visited Margam early in May it was working well below its capacity, humping about 1,000 wagons a day; [...].

• (to carry): heft, shoulder, tote; see also Thesaurus:carry
• (to go on foot): hike, trek, walk; see also Thesaurus:walk
• (to have sex): bang, bone, ride, shag; see also Thesaurus:copulate or Thesaurus:copulate with
• (to vex): bother, irk, rile; see also Thesaurus:annoy

• phum, umph

Possibly related to Low German humpel, compare with English hump.

hump m (definite singular humpen, indefinite plural humper, definite plural humpene)

1. a bump or hump (e.g. in a road)

• fartshump

• “hump” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Possibly related to Low German humpel, compare with English hump.

hump m (definite singular humpen, indefinite plural humpar, definite plural humpane)

1. a bump or hump (e.g. in a road)

• fartshump

• “hump” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

hump c

1. (agriculture) Dialectal (e.g. Östergötland) form of utmark and utäga (“outfield”)

   Klockarehumpen

   The Sexton Outfield