1756. The World, No. 164. Now if this be only a hum (as I suppose
it is) upon our country apes, it being blown in the World will put
an end to it.
d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘A Tale.’ There, my good critics,
lies the hum.
1806. Lamb, Letters in Wks. (Ed. 1852), ch. v., p. 81. I daresay
all this is hum!
1820. Reynolds (P. Corcoran), The Fancy, ‘King Tims the First.’ You
or your son have told a bouncing hum.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hum—a whispered lie.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Row in an Omnibus Box.’ It’s ‘No
Go!’—it’s ‘Gammon!’—it’s ‘all a Hum!’
1848. Punch, vol. XIV., p. 37. ‘Ye Frenche Goe Uppe to London.’
That ye French threats were all bouncing, That ye muster was a hum,
And they’d never dare to come.
1885. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 49. A hum and a huff, And none o’
the real stuff.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 76. Married life may be ticketed
honey, but I know it’s more of a hum.