hump

Meanings

Noun

• A mound of earth.
• A speed hump.
• A deformity in humans caused by abnormal curvature of the upper spine.
• A rounded fleshy mass, such as on a camel or zebu.
• An act of sexual intercourse.
• A bad mood.
• A painfully boorish person.
• A wave that forms in front of an operating hovercraft and impedes progress at low speeds.

Verb

• To bend something into a hump.
• To carry (something), especially with some exertion.
• To rhythmically thrust the pelvis in a manner conducive to sexual intercourse.
• To prepare for a great exertion; to put forth effort.
• To vex or annoy.
• To shunt wagons / freight cars over the hump in a hump yard.

Related

Similar words

• gibbous, humpback, hunch, hunchback

Origin

• Probably borrowed from Dutch homp or Middle Low German hump, from Old Saxon *hump ("hill, heap, thick piece"), from Proto-Germanic *humpaz ("hip, height"), from Proto-Indo-European *kumb- ("curved").
• Cognate with West Frisian hompe ("lump, chunk"), Icelandic huppur ("flank"), Welsh cwm ("a hollow"), Latin incumbō ("to lie down"), Albanian sumbull ("round button, bud"), Ancient Greek κύμβη ("bowl"), Avestan 𐬑𐬎𐬨𐬠𐬀, Sanskrit कुम्ब ("thick end of bone")). Replaced, and perhaps influenced by, Old English crump ("crooked, bent"). More at cramp.