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.