verb. (common).—1. To spoil; to botch; to do for.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London 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 Illustrated London News, 12 March, 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. 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.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar 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.
1843. W. T. PORTER, ed., The Big Bear of Arkansas, etc., p. 126. He was breathin’ sorter hard, his eye set on the Governor, HUMPIN’ himself on politics. Ibid. (1847), A Quarter Race in Kentucky, etc., p. 177. Ef thar are anything he HUMPS hisself on besides ugly, it is his manners among the fimmales.
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. T. A. GUTHRIE (‘F. Anstey’), Mr. Punch’s Model Music-Hall Songs & Dramas, 43. The company consume what will be elegantly referred to as ‘a bit o’ booze.’ Aunt Snapper ‘GETS THE ’UMP.’
1886. J. K. JEROME, The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, p. 14. ’Arry refers to the heavings of his wayward heart by confiding to Jimee that he has ‘GOT THE BLOOMING HUMP’
