hump

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hump / həmp/ • n. a rounded protuberance found on the back of a camel or other animal or as an abnormality on a person's back. ∎  a rounded raised mass of earth or land. ∎  a mound over which railroad vehicles are pushed so as to run by gravity to the required place in a switchyard.• v. 1. [tr.] inf. lift or carry (a heavy object) with difficulty: he continued to hump cases up and down the hotel corridor. ∎  [intr.] move heavily and awkwardly: an elephant seal was a vast mound of flesh, humping along the ground in waves of blubber.2. [tr.] make hump-shaped: the cat humped himself into a different shape and purred.3. [intr.] vulgar slang have sexual intercourse. ∎  [tr.] have sexual intercourse with (someone).PHRASES: over the hump over the worst or most difficult part of something.DERIVATIVES: humped adj. a humped back.hump·less adj.hump·y adj. (hump·i·er, hump·i·est) .

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