1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hump, to hump. Once a fashionable
word for copulation.
To hump oneself, verb. phr. (American).—To stir; to prepare for attack;
to fancy oneself.
1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc. p. 177. Ef thar are anything he
humps hisself on besides ugly, it is his manners among the
fimmales.
1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 126. He was breathin’ sorter hard,
his eye set on the Governor, humpin’ himself on politics.
To get (or have) the hump, verb. phr. (common).—To be despondent, hurt,
put out, down in the mouth (q.v.). also, to have the hump up or on. For
synonyms, see Snaggy.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Grosart, Works, v., 267). So in his
humps about it ... that he had thought to have tumbled his
hurrie-currie ... into the sea.
1885. Punch, 10 Jan., p. 24. I had got the ’ump, and no error,
along o’ Bill B. and that gal.
1892. Anstey, Model Music-Hall, 43. The company consume what will
be elegantly referred to as ‘a bit of booze.’ Aunt Snapper gets the
’ump.
1886. Jerome, Idle Thoughts, p. 14. ’Arry refers to the heavings of
his wayward heart by confiding to Jimee that he has got the
blooming hump!
Humpey, subs. (Australian).—See quot.
1893. Gilbert Parker, Pierre and his People, p. 135. McGann was
lying on his back on a pile of buffalo robes in a mountain hut.
Australians would call it a humpey.
Humphrey, subs. (American thieves’).—A coat with pocket holes but no
pockets.—Matsell.
To dine with Duke Humphrey. See Dine, Sir Thomas Gresham, and Knights.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 18. I ... retired me
to Paules, to seeke my dinner with Duke Humfrey.
1843. Moncrieff, The Scamps of London, i., 1. Dines oftener with
Duke Humphrey than anybody else, I believe.
Humpty-dumpty, subs. (colloquial).—1. A short and thick-set person; a
grundy (q.v.); a hunch-back. For synonyms, see Forty Guts.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.