hump

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings
  2. verb round one's back by bending forward and drawing the shoulders forward
  3. verb have sexual intercourse with

Etymology

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

bulge, bump, swelling, gibbosity, gibbousness, jut, prominence, protuberance, protrusion, extrusion, excrescence

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