hump

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

hump, n. [Cf. D. homp a lump, LG. hump heap, hill, stump, possibly akin to E. heap. Cf. Hunch.].

•  A protuberance; especially, the protuberance formed by a crooked back.  [1913 Webster]
•  A fleshy protuberance on the back of an animal, as a camel or whale.  [1913 Webster]
•  a portion of a switchyard with a slanting track in which freight cars may coast without an engine and be sorted through a series of switches.  [PJC]

hump, v. t. 

•  To form into a hump; to make hump-shaped; to hunch; -- often with up.

  "The cattle were very uncomfortable, standing humped up in the bushes."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  To put or carry on the (humped) back; to shoulder; hence, to carry, in general.

  "Having collected a sufficient quantity, we humped it out of the bush."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  To bend or gather together for strenuous effort, as in running; to do or effect by such effort; to exert; -- usually reflexively or with it; as, you must hump yourself.

  "A half dozen other negroes, some limping and all scared, were humping it across a meadow."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  to sort freight cars by means of a hump.  [PJC]
•  to engage in sexual intercourse with.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hump, n. & v.
--n.
1 a rounded protuberance on the back of a camel etc., or as an abnormality on a person's back.
2 a rounded raised mass of earth etc.
3 a mound over which railway vehicles are pushed so as to run by gravity to the required place in a marshalling yard.
4 a critical point in an undertaking, ordeal, etc.
5 (prec. by the) Brit. sl. a fit of depression or vexation (it gives me the hump).
--v.tr.
1 a (often foll. by about) colloq. lift or carry (heavy objects etc.) with difficulty. b esp. Austral. hoist up, shoulder (one's pack etc.).
2 make hump-shaped.
3 annoy, depress.
4 coarse sl. have sexual intercourse with.

Idiom

hump bridge = humpback bridge. live on one's hump colloq. be self-sufficient. over the hump over the worst; well begun.

Usage

In sense 4 usually considered a taboo word.

Derivative

humped adj. humpless adj.

Etymology

17th c.: perh. rel. to LG humpel hump, LG humpe, Du. homp lump, hunk (of bread)

THESAURUS

hump

Everest, Olympus, alp, arch, barrow, bear, bend, bend back, bilge, blain, bleb, blister, blob, bolt, boss, bow, bubble, buck, buckle down, bulb, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, burl, button, cahot, career, carry, chine, clump, condyle, convex, convey, crook, curl, curve, dart, dash, decurve, deflect, dome, dowel, drag, ear, embow, endeavor, enlargement, excrescence, ferry, flange, flap, flex, fling, gall, get cracking, get cutting, gnarl, go all out, growth, handle, haste, hasten, haul, heave, hie, hill, hillock, hit the ball, hook, hop to it, hotfoot, hummock, hump it, hunch, hurry, hurtle, incurvate, incurve, inflect, jog, joggle, knob, knot, knuckle down, knur, knurl, la, lay to, lean on it, lip, lofty mountains, loop, lug, lump, make haste, mass, mole, mound, mount, mountain, nevus, node, nub, nubbin, nubble, papilloma, peg, ply the oar, post, pour it on, projection, protrusion, protuberance, race, recurve, reflect, reflex, retroflex, rib, ridge, ring, round, rush, sag, scamper, scoot, scour, scramble, scud, scurry, scuttle, shag ass, shake a leg, shake it up, shoot, shoulder, skedaddle, snap to it, spare no effort, spine, step on it, stud, style, swag, sweep, swelling, tab, tear, tear ass, tell, the wooded mountains, tor, towering alps, transport, tubercle, tubercule, tumefaction, tumescence, tumulus, turn, vault, verruca, vesicle, wale, wart, welt, wind

ROGET THESAURUS

hump

Convexity

N convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion, camber, cahot, thank-ye-ma'am, swell, intumescence, tumour, tumor, tubercle, tuberosity, excrescence, hump, hunch, bunch, boss, embossment, hub, hubble, tooth, knob, elbow, process, apophysis, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity, tongue, dorsum, bump, clump, sugar loaf, bow, mamelon, molar, belly, corporation, pot belly, gut, withers, back, shoulder, lip, flange, pimple, zit, wen, wheel, papula, pustule, pock, proud flesh, growth, sarcoma, caruncle, corn, wart, pappiloma, furuncle, polypus, fungus, fungosity, exostosis, bleb, blister, blain, boil, airbubble, blob, papule, verruca, papilla, nipple, teat, tit, titty, boob, knocker, pap, breast, dug, mammilla, proboscis, nose, neb, beak, snout, nozzle, schnoz, peg, button, stud, ridge, rib, jutty, trunnion, snag, cupola, dome, arch, balcony, eaves, pilaster, relief, relievo, cameo, bassorilievo, mezzorilevo, altorivievo, low relief, bas relief, high relief, hill, cape, promontory, mull, forehead, foreland, point of land, mole, jetty, hummock, ledge, spur, naze, ness, convex, prominent, protuberant, projecting, bossed, embossed, bossy, nodular, bunchy, clavate, clavated, claviform, hummocky, moutonne, mammiliform, papulous, papilose, hemispheric, bulbous, bowed, arched, bold, bellied, tuberous, tuberculous, tumous, cornute, odontoid, lentiform, lenticular, gibbous, club shaped, hubby, hubbly, knobby, papillose, saddle-shaped, selliform, subclavate, torose, ventricose, verrucose, salient, in relief, raised, repousse, bloated, (expanded).