hump
pronunciation
How to pronounce hump in British English:
UK [hʌmp]
How to pronounce hump in American English:
US [hʌmp]
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- Noun:
- something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from a form
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- Verb:
- arch one's back
- have sexual intercourse with
Word Origin
- hump
- hump: [18] Hump seems to have originated among the Low German dialects of North Germany and the Low Countries – Dutch, for instance, has the probably related homp ‘lump’. It first appeared in English towards the end of the 17th century in the compound hump-backed, but by the first decade of the 18th century it was being used on its own. (Another theory is that it arose from a blend of the now obsolete crumpbacked with hunchbacked [16], whose hunch- is of unknown origin.)
- hump (n.)
- 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.
- hump (v.)
- "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.
Example
- 1. Code for design on hump and marshalling yard of railway .
- 2. A camel has a hump on its back .
- 3. Here is humpty hump as ...... humpty hump .
- 4. Germany has made great progress at finding its place in the world since unification , but it is not yet over the hump of history .
- 5. Also participating in the event was a large delegation of veterans of the hump pilot 's association and their families .