Probably borrowed from Dutch homp (“hump, lump”) or Middle Low German hump (“heap, hill, stump”), from Old Saxon *hump (“hill, heap, thick piece”), from Proto-Germanic *humpaz (“hip, height”), from Proto-Indo-European *kumb- (“curved”). Compare Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb-, *ḱewb- (unnasalised root), and English hub (a softened variant without nasal?). 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 (kúmbē, “bowl”), Avestan 𐬑𐬎𐬨𐬠𐬀 (xumba, “pot”), Sanskrit कुम्ब (kúmba, “thick end of bone”). Replaced, and perhaps influenced by, Old English crump (“crooked, bent”). More at cramp.
A deformity in humans caused by abnormal curvature of the upper spine.
4
A rounded fleshy mass, such as on a camel or zebu.
Fat, melted down from the hump of the camel, is suggested in an Oriental manual as an aphrodisiac aid.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 54:
Probably borrowed from Dutch homp (“hump, lump”) or Middle Low German hump (“heap, hill, stump”), from Old Saxon *hump (“hill, heap, thick piece”), from Proto-Germanic *humpaz (“hip, height”), from Proto-Indo-European *kumb- (“curved”). Compare Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb-, *ḱewb- (unnasalised root), and English hub (a softened variant without nasal?). 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 (kúmbē, “bowl”), Avestan 𐬑𐬎𐬨𐬠𐬀 (xumba, “pot”), Sanskrit कुम्ब (kúmba, “thick end of bone”). Replaced, and perhaps influenced by, Old English crump (“crooked, bent”). More at cramp.
The cattle were very uncomfortable, standing humped up in the bushes.1885, Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman:
2
To carry (something), especially with some exertion.
For travellers have to carry bags, / And swagmen have to hump their swags / Like bottle-ohs or ragmen.1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 14:
US, Dated, Slang To exert oneself; to make an effort.
Lessons are keeping me humping now, and will probably do so all summer.1917, Hart Crane, letter, in Complete Poems & Selected Letters, Library of America 2006
In the first phase of the new yard's operation, from March 6 last, it was wisely decided to restrict the yard's use to allow for any "teething" ailments with complex electronic gadgets, so when I visited Margam early in May it was working well below its capacity, humping about 1,000 wagons a day; […].1960 July, G. Freeman Allen, “Margam yard - the most modern in Europe”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 405, 407:
"Why, sir," said one patterer, "I've gone out with a mate to work a litany, and he's humped it in no time." To 'hump,' in street parlance, is equivalent to 'botch,' in more genteel colloquialism.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861: