1. To have sexual intercourse with. 2. To cheat; to send to prison unjustly; to abuse or maltreat.

- american underworld dictionary - 1950
Vietnam era American military slang:
To walk long distances through rough terrain or to carry something through such terrain.

EG: "That fucking Lieutentant was no good to us even after he was dead, I had to hump his corpse 17 clicks back to the LZ"

Sometimes also referred to as "humping the boonies.
Our manager called an off site early in the week for the day - a day just to relax in the park in a California summer. Many bottles of wine were brought, hot dogs, not dogs, hamburgers and whatnot were consumed. At about 2 in the afternoon, we started a game of Pictionary.

Before this tale progresses too far, it should be noted that one of the group brought her daughter who was in 4th grade or there abouts. While Pictionary (the original edition) is quite 'easy', the second edition of Pictionary is much more difficult (candidate, ingrown toenail, Father's Day, and other such joys to think about, much less draw). This was much to the dismay of the young girl who didn't know any of the words that were being chosen - much less how to depict them on paper. She wanted to play too - rather than watch the timer.

Finally, a word was drawn and she was certain she knew what it was. This word happened to have been one of the words that both teams drew for the steal possibility and it was my turn to draw.

Hump... ok, well a quick upside-down 'U' shape and a stylized camel head brought about a rapid responses from my team after they stopped trying to think about the camel too hard (a few arrows helped). Meanwhile, there were confused guesses from the other side.

The young girl had drawn two stick figures laying on top of each other.

"The Hump" was the nickname for one of the most hazardous air transport routes of World War II: from India to China, over the Himalayas. Because the Japanese Empire had taken over most of eastern China at the time, the only way to keep the Kuomintang supplied with gasoline, firearms, medicine, and other necessities was to ferry them by air over Tibet and Bhutan.

The Hump route was inaugurated in 1942 at the time of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, in an effort to supply emergency bases for Allied bombers in the Pacific. After the Doolittle mission, the Air Transport Command took over the Hump and began ferrying supplies in C-46, C-47, and C-87 aircraft. By the end of the war, the Hump was bringing 70,000 tons of supplies into China each month.

800 pilots died flying the Hump: the ground below them was often higher than the recommended cruising altitude of their aircraft. Many of the aerodromes in India and China were poorly equipped and remotely located. At some airfields, pilots would have to take off at night by aiming toward a pair of headlights at the other end of the runway. Stories abound of pilots who crashed in Tibet and were brought home in heavy hand-hewn bamboo coffins built by local villagers.

The Hump was first used by China National Aviation Corporation, which later became a division of Pan American Airways. The Flying Tigers also used the Hump to get to and from China.

Hump (?), n. [Cf. D. homp a lump, LG. hump heap, hill, stump, possibly akin to E. heap. Cf. Hunch.]

1.

A protuberance; especially, the protuberance formed by a crooked back.

2. Zool.

A fleshy protuberance on the back of an animal, as a camel or whale.

 

© Webster 1913.


Hump (?), v. t.

1.

To form into a hump; to make hump-shaped; to hunch; -- often with up.

The cattle were very uncomfortable, standing humped up in the bushes. T. Roosvelt.

2.

To put or carry on the (humped) back; to shoulder; hence, to carry, in general.

[Slang, Australia]

Having collected a sufficient quantity, we humped it out of the bush. C. L. Money.

3.

To bend or gather together for strenuous effort, as in running; to do or effect by such effort; to exert; -- usually reflexively or with it; as, you must hump yourself.

[Slang, U. S.]

A half dozen other negroes, some limping and all scared, were humping it across a meadow. McClure's Mag.

 

© Webster 1913.

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