Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Covered with or containing humps.
  • adjective Resembling a hump.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Full of humps; marked by protuberances.
  • noun A house; a hut.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of humps or bunches; covered with protuberances; humped.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Characterised by humps, uneven.
  • adjective Muscular; hunky.
  • adjective Hunched, bent over.
  • adjective Sulky; irritable.
  • noun Australia A hut or temporary shelter made from bark and tree branches, especially for Aborigines.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hump +‎ -y

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Yagara (Brisbane region) ŋumbi, perhaps influenced by hump.

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Examples

  • “When a spirit makes a camp is it called a humpy, or is that just humans?”

    Kangaroo Dreaming Steve Himmer 2011

  • The 17th 'humpy' was in the bioplastic section under control of three physicians and was serving as a model for the makeup artists.

    Pigeons Having Sex On An Air Conditioner In New York 2010

  • I wanted to be "Cornteeth" but it was taken getting un fat and a new kind of humpy

    whitehelmet Diary Entry whitehelmet 2005

  • April 21, 2005 getting un fat and a new kind of humpy

    Older Entries whitehelmet 2004

  • As befitted their social positions the forge and black boys '"humpy" kept a respectful distance well round the south-eastern corner of this thoroughfare; but, for some unknown reason, the fowl-roosts had been erected over Sam Lee's sleeping-quarters.

    We of the Never-Never Jeannie Gunn 1915

  • Now, while Billy lays in a stock of firewood and fixes up a 'humpy' for himself to sleep in, suppose you and I go down and try to catch some fish for tea?

    A Little Bush Maid 1910

  • But 'humpy' is almost spent, and though by a mighty effort he 'ups flukes' and sounds, he soon rises, for the killers thrust him upwards to the surface again.

    A Memory Of The Southern Seas 1904 Louis Becke 1884

  • Almost on the verge of the steep-to wall of rock was a large and regularly built "humpy," in which Douglas Fraser and Kate lived.

    Tom Gerrard Louis Becke 1884

  • Oddly enough, Yamba, far from manifesting any jealousy, seemed to take as much interest as any one in the proceedings, and after everything was over she led my new wife away to the little "humpy," or hut, that had been built for me by the women.

    The Adventures of Louis De Rougemont Louis de Rougemont 1884

  • But 'humpy' is almost spent, and though by a mighty effort he 'ups flukes,' and sounds, he soon rises, for the killers thrust him upwards to the surface again.

    Rídan The Devil And Other Stories 1899 Louis Becke 1884

Comments

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  • One of my favorite authors of all time, James Kirkwood, uses this to mean "cute" (sexy) in P.S., Your Cat Is Dead!.

    July 8, 2008

  • Also a nickname for the pink salmon, typically plural as humpies. They aren't all that cute, though.

    July 8, 2008

  • "Some of these worked as stockmen or labourers or kitchen-hands and lived in quarters not far from the homestead; others seemed to have no other homes than a row of humpies beside the creek."

    Barley Patch by Gerald Murnane, p 49 of the Dalkey Archive Press paperback edition

    May 22, 2012

  • Also grew up with this as the pink salmon

    May 11, 2016