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.
Usage:
In sense 4 usually considered a taboo word.
Phrases and idioms:
hump bridge humpback bridge. live on one's hump colloq. be self-sufficient. over the hump over the worst; well begun.
Derivatives:
humped adj. humpless adj.
Etymology: 17th c.: perh. rel. to LG humpel hump, LG humpe, Du. homp lump, hunk (of bread)