Humming, adj. (old). Strong—applied to drink; brisk—applied to trade;
hard—applied to blows. Humming October = the specially strong brew from
the new season’s hops; stingo (q.v.).
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Humming Liquor, Double Ale, Stout,
Pharoah.
1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, iv., 2. The wine was humming
strong.
1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, iii., 4. Landlord, how fares it? You
seem to drive a humming trade here.
1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, ch. vii. Let us fortify our stomachs
with a slice or two of hung beef, and a horn or so of humming
stingo.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. A humming double pot of
ale.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘The Wedding Day.’ A mighty
magnificent tub Of what men, in our hemisphere, term ‘Humming Bub,’
But which gods—who, it seems, use a different lingo, From mortals,
are wont to denominate ‘Stingo.’
1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. III., ch. vii. Wegg, in
coming to the ground, had received a humming knock on the back of
his devoted head.
Hump, verb. (common).—1. To spoil; to botch; to do for.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 252. To
hump in street parlance, is equivalent to ‘botch,’ in more genteel
colloquialism.
2. (colonial).—To shoulder and carry. E.g., To hump one’s swag = to
shoulder one’s kit.
1886. Daily Telegraph, 1 Jan. Ladies whom I have met humping their
own drums.
1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66. A large blanket rolled up
which contains the personal luggage of the man who carries or humps
it.
1887. G. A. Sala in Illus. Lon. News, 12 Mar., 282/2. All kinds of
luggage, generally speaking, which are manually carried, are at
present said to be humped. I have had to hump mine many a time and
oft.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, ch. xxii. We humped our
saddles and swags ourselves.
1890. Family Herald, 8 Feb., p. 227. I was just debating whether I
had better hump my drum.