humpback 
3. A humpbacked whale of the genus 3ff nap- 
tern. 4. In iclttli., a salmon of the genus Onco- 
rliynrlmx, (). gorbusclia , more fully called ]nu/>- 
bncked minion. Sec salmon Humpback butter- 
fish. See butter-fish, 1 (i). 
humpbacked (hump'bakt ), a. Having a crook- 
ed back; Jiunched. 
I could not for my heart forbear pitying the poor hump- 
backed gentleman. Attdixnn, Spectator, No. 551). 
The h utupttack'd willow ; half stands up 
And bristles; half has fall'n and made a bridge. 
Tennyson, Walking to the Mail. 
humped (humpt), . [< hump + -((I 2 .'] Hav- 
ing a hump or protuberance. 
A straight-shouldered man as one would desire to see, 
but a little unfortunate in a humped back. 
Ouardian, No. 102. 
The humped cattle were domesticated, as may be seen 
on the Egyptian monuments, at least as early as the twelfth 
dynasty, that is 2100 H. c. 
Danrin, Var. of Animals and Plants, p. 82. 
In spite of its well-to-do comparative modernness, its 
red bricks set in wide spaces of gray, its gables and humped 
roof are picturesque enough to please any artistic mind. 
Art Age, IV. 40. 
humph (humf ), IH terj. [A stronger form of hum 2 , 
li'in, hem 2 .'] An exclamation uttered in the 
manner of a grunt, and expressive of disbelief, 
doubt, or dissatisfaction. 
humph (humf), v. i. [< humph, intciy.] To ut- 
ter the syllable humph, as in dissatisfaction; 
mutter; grumble. 
Humphing and considering over a particular paragraph. 
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xlv. 
humpless (hump'les), a. [< hump + -less.] 
Without a hump. 
The European breeds of humpless cattle are numerous. 
Darvnn, Var. ol Animals and Plants, p. 83. 
humpty (hump'ti), a. [<.humped(humpt) + -yl.~] 
Humped; hunchbacked. [Prov. Eng.] 
humpty-dumpty (hump'ti-dump'ti), a. and H. 
[< humpty + dumpy 2 , the latter element made to 
rime with the former.] I. a. Short and broad. 
Hence the name " Humpty-Dumpty " in "Mo- 
ther Goose," personifying an egg. 
II. . A favorite Gipsy beverage, consisting 
of ale boiled with brandy. 
humpy 1 (hum'pi), a. [< hump + -yl.~\ Full of 
humps ; marked by protuberances. 
Before the early grass starts in the spring, the emaciated 
appearance of one of these little ponies in the far North- 
west will sorely try the feelings of an equine philanthro- 
pist, should he look along the humpy ribs and withered 
quarters. The Century, XXXVII. 339. 
humpy 2 (hum'pi), n. ; pi. humpies (-piz). [Aus- 
tralian.] A house ; a hut. 
But the family loved It, and in spite of the fits of new 
housebuilding which periodically attacked Mr. Gray, the 
owner of the station, they continued to dwell in the fa- 
miliar old bark humpy so full of happy memories. 
A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. 133. 
humstrum (hum'strum), n. [< hum + strum; 
the elements being vaguely used.] 1. A mu- 
sical instrument out of tune or rudely construct- 
ed ; a hurdy-gurdy. [Prov. Eng.] 
Bonnell Thornton had Just published a burlesque Ode 
on St. Cecilia's Day, adapted to the antient British Mu- 
sick; viz. the saltbox, the Jewsharp, the marrow-bones 
and cleaver, the humstrum, or hurdygurdy, &c. 
Boswell, Johnson (ed. 1791), I. 227. 
2. Music poorly played. 
humulin, humuline (hu'mu-lin), n. [<Humi<- 
lus + -in 2 , -ine 2 ."} Same as lupulin. 
Humulineae (hu-mu-lin'e-e), n. pi. [NL., < 
Humulus (-lin-) + -ej.] 'A tribe of plants be- 
longing to the natural order Urticacece, proposed 
by Dumortier (1829), typified by the genus Hu- 
mulus, the hop. This tribe is not retained by 
recent botanists, the genus being placed in the 
tribe Cannabinea;. 
Humulus (hu'mu-lus), >*. [NL., < ML. humu- 
lus, hummulus, also hiimulo, hiimolo, humlo (cf. 
OF. houblon, hop); appar. of Teut. origin: see 
hop 2 ; but according to another view, < L. hu- 
mus, the ground, the plant creeping on the 
ground if not supported.] A genus of dicoty- 
ledonous monochlamydeous plants, of the nat- 
ural order Urticaccre and tribe Cannabinem. 
They have dioecious flowers, the male in loose axillary 
panicles, with 5 sepals and 6 erect stamens, the female in 
short axillary and solitary spikes or catkins, with folia- 
ceous imbricated bracts, each 2-flowered, in fruit forming 
a sort of membranaceous strobile. The plants are twin- 
ing rough perennials, with mostly opposite, heart-shaped, 
and palmately 3- to 7-lobed leaves. Only two species are 
known : H. In/minx, the common hop, widely cultivated, 
and another, a native of China and Japan. One species, 
H. palceolupulus, has been found In a fossil state in the 
Pliocene formation at Meximicux in the department of 
Ain, France. See cut under hop*. 
humus (hu'mus), H. [L., the earth, the ground, 
the soil, locative hiimi (= Gr. ^auai). on the 
184 
2919 
ground, lo (ho ground: see Homo, rhthonir, 
chameleon, etc. Hence humble, humility, etc.] 
Vegetable mold. It is a dark-brown or black sub- 
stance, varying greatly In composition, produced by the 
decay of vegetable matter with a limited supply of air. 
It includes the brown vegetable matter of soils generally, 
as well as swamp-muck, peat* etc. Humus contains sev- 
eral tolerably well-defined chemical compounds, includ- 
ing ulniin and ulmic acid, and humin and humic acid, and 
is an important factor in the fertility of soils. Also called 
ycin. 
humus-plant (hii'mus-plant), M. Same as sa- 
Hun 1 (hun), n. [AS. Hunnn and Hune = Icel. 
Hunar = MHG. Hinne, etc.; < LL. Hitnni, LGr. 
Qvwoi, also LL. Chunni, Chuni, LGr. Xovvwu, Xoi>- 
voi, pi., LL. sing. "Hunnus, Chunus, repr. the 
native name, identified, with some probability, 
with that of the Heungnoo orHiongnu, a people 
who, according to Chinese annals, constituted, 
about the end of the 3d century B. c., a powerful 
empire stretching from the Great Wall of China 
to the Caspian. This would indicate that the 
Huns belonged to the Turkish branch of the 
Ural-Altaic race ; in another view, they were 
of the Finnic branch ; but the name is not con- 
nected, unless very remotely, with that of the 
Hungarians (Magyars), also of Finnic origin.] 
A member of an ancient Asiatic race of warlike 
nomads, probably of the Mongolian or Tatar 
stock, first appearing prominently in European 
history about A. D. 375. In that year they crossed 
the Volga and the Don. defeated the Goths, and drove 
them beyond the Danube. In the reign of their king 
Attila (about 434-454) they overran and ravaged the great- 
er part of Europe, and compelled the Romans to pay trib- 
ute. After the death of Attila their power was broken, 
but their name continued to be applied in an indefinite 
way during the middle ages. They are described as ugly 
and savage, having dark complexions, small, deep-set black 
eyes, broad shoulders, flat noses, and no beard. Some au- 
thorities suppose that they were identical with the Finnic 
Bulgarians of later history. 
The north by myriads pours her mighty sons, 
Great nurse of Goths, of Alans, and of Huns ! 
Pope, Dunciad, Hi. 90. 
White Huns, an ancient people, probably of the Turkish 
race, who lived in central Asia. They were possibly an- 
cestors of the Turkomans. 
Hun 2 (hun), n. [Partly another use of Hun 1 , 
by an erroneous assumption of the identity of 
the two peoples, and partly (in the U. S.) an 
abbr. of Hungarian."] A Hungarian. 
Where furious Frank and fiery Hun 
Shout in their sulphurous canopy. 
Campbell, Hohenlinden. 
hunch (hunch), n. [Not found in early rec- 
ords; an assibilated form of hunk 1 , q. v.] 1. 
A hump; a protuberance: as, the hunch of a 
camel. 2. A thick piece; a hunk; a lump: as, 
a hunch of cheese. 
His wife brought out the cut loaf and a piece of Wilt- 
shire cheese, and I took them in hand, gave Richard a 
good hunch, and took another for myself. Cubbett. 
3. [< hunch, r.] A push or jog with the fist or 
elbow, or by a cow with the horn, 
hunch (hunch), v. t. [< hunch, n. In def. 2, 
prob. due in part to haunch, v.~\ I. To round 
or thrust out or up in a protuberance ; crook, 
as the back. 
In a lake called Lyn Rathlyn, in Meireonethshire, is a 
very singular variety of perch : the back is quite hunched, 
and the lower part of the back bone, next the tail, strange- 
ly distorted. Pennant, Brit. Zool. , The Common Perch. 
Sometimes one of them got up and went to the desk, on 
which he leaned his elbows, hunching a pair of sloping 
shoulders to an uncollared neck. 
H. James, Jr., The Century, XXXI. 91. 
2. To push or thrust with the elbow or (as a 
cow) with the horn; jog; hook. 
Jack's friends began to hunch and push one another. 
Arbuthnot, Hist John Bull. 
hunchback (hunch 'bak), . [< hunch + 
ftacfc 1 .] A humpback; a humpbacked per- 
son. 
hunchbacked (hunch ' bakt), a. Having a 
hunched or crooked back. 
That foul hunch-baclred toad. Shak., Rich. III., iv. 4. 
hundred (hun'dred), n. and a. [Early mod. 
E. also hundreth, 'dial, hunderd, < ME. hundred, 
hunderd, hondred, honderd, hondert, also hun- 
dreth, hundrith, < AS. hundred, rarely hundraith, 
ONorth. hundrath (after Icel.) (= OS. hunda- 
rod = OFries. hundred, hunderd, hondert = D. 
honderd = MLG. hundert= MHG. hunterit, hun- 
dert, G. hundert = Icel. hundradh = Sw. huu- 
drade, hundra = Dan. hundrede), prop, a col- 
lective noun, a hundred, lit. a ' count ' or tale 
of a hundred, < AS. hund, a hundred, H- -red, 
-i-a-d = Icel. -radh, also -rtedhr, in dtt-rtedhr, 
80, ni-ra-dhr, 90, ti-ra;dhr, 100, tolf-ra-dhr, 120 (E. 
as if "rintt t-red, "nine-red, "ten-red, "twelve-red). 
hundred 
connected with OS. rcdhitt = MLG. rede, ac- 
count, = OHG. radio, redia, redea, reda, ac- 
count, reckoning, tale, MHG. G. rede, speech, 
account, = Dan. rede = Sw. reda, account, = 
Goth, rathjo, number, reckoning: cf. L. rut in, 
a reckoning, account, computation, relation, 
proportion, reason: see ratio = ration = rea- 
son, and rate 1 . The more usual AS. term for 
'hundred' was hund = OS. hand = OHG. hunt 
= Goth, hund = W. cunt = Gael, dad = Olr. 
cet, Ir. cead = Lith. ssimtas =Lett. situts = 
OBulg. siito = Bulg. Serv. Bohem. Pol. Sor- 
bian ? Kuss. sto = L. centum (see cent, etc.) = 
Gr. e-narov (see liecato-) = Skt. yata-m, a hun- 
dred, prob. repr. a type "kanta, a reduced form 
of "dakanta for OTig.*dakan-dakan-ta (cf. Goth. 
taihun-taihund, taihun-tehund, a hundred, of 
which hund may be regarded as an abbr. or 
reduced form), i. e. ' ten-ten-th', < "dakan : see 
tenl and tenth. The same orig. elements, with- 
out the suffix -d, -th, appear in OHG. zehanzo 
= AS. tedn-tig, a hundred, E. as if "ten-ty, like 
twen-ty, nine-ty, etc. The element hund-, repr. 
'ten' or 'tenth,' occurs in AS. hund-seofontii/, 
seventy, etc., hund-endlefontig, a hundred and 
ten (E. as if "clerenty), hund-twelftig, a hundred 
and twenty (E. as if *twelfty), appar. developed 
by cumulation (hund- and -tig being ult. from the 
same root, that of ten) from *huitd-seofon , i. e. 
'ten-seven,' 'tenth seven,' etc.] I. n. 1. The 
sum of ninety-nine and one, or of ten tens; the 
product of ten multiplied by ten; a collection, 
body, or sum consisting of ten times ten indi- 
viduals or units; fivescore. In England hundreds 
of 6 score, of 132, and of 124 formerly had also a limited 
use. Similar usages existed in continental Europe. See 
great hundred, below. 
& thay chastysed, & charred, on chasyng that went ; 
A hundreth of hunteres, as I haf herde telle. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.X 1. 1143. 
They sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. 
Mark vL 40. 
2. In early Teutonic hist., a territorial or admin- 
istrative district; specifically, in southern and 
central England, a division or subdivision of a 
county (a corresponding division in northern 
England being called a wapentake). in ancient 
Germany the hundred also denoted, according to Tacitus, 
a group of persons. The origin of the territorial hundred 
is uncertain. Many consider it to be derived from bodies 
each composed of a hundred warriors ; others find the ori- 
gin in divisions of a hundred hides of land, groups of a 
hundred families, etc. The division of hundred was intro- 
duced into the colonies of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Mary- 
land, and Delaware, and still exists in the last-named 
State. These divisions in England were the basis for the 
organization of the military service and for the adminis- 
tration of fiscal matters ; each hundred had its hundred- 
moot and ite hundred-court, with civil and criminal juris- 
diction. In Maryland they served (or election districts. 
The constable's wife 
Of some odd hundred in Essex. 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 1. 
As ten families of freeholders made up a town or tith- 
ing, so ten tithings composed a superior division called a 
hundred, as consisting of ten times ten families. 
Blackstone, Com., Int., 4. 
It is very probable, as already stated, that the colonists 
of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds of warriors ; 
it is not probable that they carved out the country into 
equal districts. Sluulis, Const. Hist., 45. 
Equally involved in obscurity is the beginning of the 
hundred in Virginia, and the history of its various phases 
is rather curious, not only because it was the first English 
local division instituted in America, but, besides having 
both a territorial and personal signification, it assumed dif- 
ferent relations to the general government of the colony 
at different periods. 
Johns Hopkins Hist. Studies, III. 143. 
Chiltern Hundreds, a hilly district of Buckinghamshire, 
England, which has belonged to the British crown from time 
immemorial. To this district a nominal office is attached, 
of which the holder is called the Steward of the Chiltern 
Hundreds. As a member of the House of Commons not 
in any respect disqualified cannot resign his seat directly, 
any member who wishes to resign may accomplish his ob- 
ject by accepting the stewardship of the Chiltern Hun- 
dreds, which, being held to be a place of honor and profit 
under the crown, vacates the seat. This nominal place is 
in the gift of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the re- 
cipient usually resigns immediately after appointment. 
Council of Five Hundred. See council. Great hun- 
dred, lone hundred, in old reckoning, six score; 120. 
It was legal for balks, deals, eggs, spars, stone, etc. "The 
technical meaning attached by merchants to the word 
hundred, associated with certain objects, was six score 
a usage which is commemorated, though perhaps in too 
sweeping and general a form, in the popular distich : 
Five score of men, money, and pins, 
Six score of all other things." 
Peacock, Encyc. Metropolitana, I. 381. 
Old Hundred, properly Old Hundredth, a celebrated 
tune set in England about the middle of the sixteenth cen. 
tury to Kethe's version of the 100th Psalm, and marked 
" Old Hundredth " in Tate and Brady's new version in 1698, 
as being retained from the old version. The earliest ex- 
tant copy of the tune is in the Genevan psalter of 1554. 
where it is set to Beza's version of the 134th Psalm ; bat 
