1709 Tatler No. 75. ⁋6 The eldest Son of Philip..being born with an Hump-back and very high Nose..These several Defects were mended by succeeding Matches; the Eyes were open'd in the next Generation, and the Hump fell in a Century and half.

1728 J. Morgan Compl. Hist. Algiers I. iv. 100 The rider sits behind the bunch or hump.

a1764 R. Lloyd Cobbler of Cripplegate (R.) Tight stays they find oft end in humps.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 20 The breed of the urus, or those without an hump..the breed of the bison, or the animal with an hump.

a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) I. 199 With a gash beneath his clotted hair, And a hump upon his shoulder.

1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 24 At this point [the sperm whale has] a large prominence of a pyramidal form called the ‘hump’.

1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 20 The thickenings which project outwardly may appear in the form of knots, humps, spines, or ridges.

1708 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais iv. xlviii. 137 I saw a little Hump [Fr. petit bossu] with long Fingers.

1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lii. 2 In the curule chair a hump sits, Nonius.

1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 13 June in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1987) IV. 287 My fare is really sumptuous this evening; buffaloe's humps, tongues and marrowbones.

1807 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1808) 11 41 Humps have long been a favourite dish at the splendid entertainments of the great Lords..in India.

1823 J. Franklin Narr. Journey Shores Polar Sea 115 The meat [of the buffalo] which covers the spinal processes themselves, after the wig is removed, is next in esteem for its flavour and juiciness, and is more extensively termed the hump by the hunters.

1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters I. iv. 36 ‘Yonder!’ cried St. Vrain, ‘fresh hump for supper!’

1861 C. J. Andersson Okavango River 130 Rhinoceros hump was..a frequent and favourite dish of mine.

1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 190 I breakfasted this morning on rhinoceros hump.

1909 Daily Chron. 5 Jan. 4/7 ‘Humps have arrived.’ So runs the legend in an old-established shop in Green-street, Leicester-square.

1909 Daily Chron. 5 Jan. 4/7 A beef hump.

1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms Hump... A favourite piece with South African housewives for salting.

1909 Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 7/2 During nearly three weeks in this glorious place I have lived on my own hump.

1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) III. 409 The Athenian troops..mounted Epipolæ, and reached the top, where it rises into a rocky hump called Euryelus.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. viii. 58 Climbing vast humps of ice.

1871 L. Stephen Playground of Europe (1894) vii. 158 The rounded dome..forms the southern hump of the Viescherhorn.

1901 Railroad Gaz. 4 Jan. 2/1 All that was necessary to take advantage of this mode of distributing cars, was to put a ‘hump’ in the switching track.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 842/1 Another method [of shunting], which was introduced into America from Europe about 1890, is that of the summit or ‘hump’.

1921 Daily Mail Year Bk. 112/1 The London and South-Western Company has constructed at Feltham a new ‘hump’ marshalling yard.

1955 Times 12 July 3/4 They had approved new works at Perth, including the construction of a fully mechanized hump marshalling yard.

1958 Times 11 Feb. 15/3 We have carried out development on equipment..for assisting the automatic operation of hump sorting yards.

1971 D. J. Smith Discovering Railwayana x. 56 Hump yard, goods yards or sidings worked by gravity shunting methods.

1914 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 4 Apr. 10/2 There ain't a kid like him this side of the Hump [sc. mountain range in west of N. America]—nor t'other side either.

1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 208 ‘Over the hump’ means to cross the mountains to the West Coast.

1936 K. Mackenzie Living Rough xv. 216 We're sure a pair of nuts riding the outside over the hump this time of the year.

1944 Time 26 June 52/1 They're flying it over ‘The Hump’—the towering Himalayas between India and China.

1970 ‘B. Mather’ Break in Line v. 64 ‘I think he'll be making for Rangoon, then over the bloody hills to China.’..‘You really expect me to walk over the Hump?’

1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 46 Hump,..the half-way point in a prison sentence. Example: ‘How long have you got yet on your bit? I'm just over the hump.’

1914 Techn. Rep. Advisory Comm. Aeronaut. 1912–13 244 The floats of the flaring bow type require only about half the E.H.P. to surmount the hump.

1922 W. R. Inge Lay Thoughts (1926) ii. i. 89 If we look at a chart of the births and deaths in Germany..each war is marked by a peak in the line showing the death rate and a ravine in the line showing the birth rate. But the ravine is followed by a hump..making good the numbers lost.

1929 D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xxii. 253 Today won't be like yesterday. You're over the hump, and the rest of it's downhill going.

1935 P. W. F. Mills Elem. Pract. Flying v. 71 In rising from the normal semi~submerged state there is a critical point known as passing the hump, before the reaching of which point the floats are definitely water-bound. After passing the hump the floats very nearly emerge from the water and commence to hydroplane. The time taken to reach the ‘hump’ and the ease with which it is passed, vary greatly.

1938 Amer. Speech 13 188/2 Once a cocaine addict is over the hump he says he is coasting or in high.

1952 Economist 27 Sept. 771/1 The machine tool industry is probably ‘over the hump’ of its..task.

1959 Listener 19 Feb. 316/2 Things were very difficult with us that year, and the Americans helped us over the hump.

1960 Economist 8 Oct. 135/1 The ‘hump’ in imports that was desired has turned into a steady climb.

1965 Listener 16 Dec. 985/1 East German farming is getting over the hump.

1727 D. Defoe Protestant Monastery 4 Under many Hardships and Restrictions, many Humps and Grumps.

1874 Hotten's Slang Dict. (rev. ed.) 198 A costermonger who was annoyed or distressed about anything would describe himself as having ‘the hump’.

1887 F. Gale Game of Cricket ix. viii. 187 So let's alter the law, Without any more jaw, Or you'll give an old buffer the hump.

1897 Westm. Gaz. 18 Feb. 1/3 Well, my boy, you've evidently got the hump..but you must give up that sort of thing when I'm here.

1910 E. M. Forster Howards End vi. 51 That tune fairly gives me the hump.

1939 T. S. Eliot Family Reunion 18 You seem to be wanting to give us all the hump. I must say, this isn't cheerful for Amy's birthday.

1863 J. G. Walker Jrnl. Voy. N.Z. 7 Jan. (MS.) 4 It was a precious hump [over the hill for provisions].

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right I. v. 111 We get a fair share of exercise without a twenty-mile hump on Sundays.

1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack xxii. 158 It got into a dark corner, growling and humping its back.

1881 C. M. Yonge Lads & Lasses Langley ii. 67 Frank had been used to hump up his back, and put his head on his arms and be comfortable.

1884 J. G. Bourke Snake Dance Moquis xxvi. 288 The cats humped themselves in readiness for hostilities.

1889 Spectator 14 Dec. 851/1 She..tumbles her ringlets over her eyes, humps her back, and makes her shoulders look sulky.

1896 S. R. Crockett Cleg Kelly xxiii Sal humped up the shoulder..and turned sharply away from him.

1884 F. R. Stockton Lady or Tiger? 108 He [the racoon]..come a humpin' inter the house.

1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways III. iv. 79 Danvers humped, femininely injured by the notice of it.

1878 J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. VI. 734/2 The ‘humping’ or rounding of scissors.

1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) 168 With the berg humping its mighty shoulders far behind them.

1835 in W. T. Porter Big Bear of Arkansas (1847) 126 (Farmer) He was breathin' sorter hard, his eye set on the Governor, humpin' himself on politics.

1883 Philad. Times 15 Aug. Col. Burns said, ‘Now you all watch that critter hump himself’.

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxix. 259 I never hunted for no back streets, but humped it straight through the main one.

1895 Daily News 26 Sept. 4/7 When the weather of St. Andrews ‘humps itself’ it can equal the feats of the weather in Montana.

1897 Chicago Advance 25 Feb. 263/1 Grit makes the man, the lack of it the chump; Therefore, young man, take hold, hang on and hump.

1906 D. Coke Bending of Twig iv. 71 ‘We shall have to hump ourselves for call-over,’ he said..as they dashed up the hill.

1908 G. H. Lorimer Jack Spurlock i. 9 He..said to the cop on guard, ‘One of them Ha'voids [= Harvard students],’ and to me, ‘Hump yourself.’

1928 ‘Sapper’ Female of Species ii Peter—your Sunbeam, and hump yourself.

1928 ‘Sapper’ Female of Species xiv That finger will connect with the trigger and the result will connect with you. So, hump yourself.

1968 M. Woodhouse Rock Baby vi. 48 I..humped myself into my coat.

1905 Smart Set Sept. 117/1 You'll have to get this machine to hump it all she knows.

1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. i. i. 3 As you look down on Bruddersford, you feel..that it is only biding its time, that it will hump its way through somehow.