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Humpback   /hˈəmpbˌæk/   Listen
Humpback

noun
1.
An abnormal backward curve to the vertebral column.  Synonyms: hunchback, kyphosis.
2.
A person whose back is hunched because of abnormal curvature of the upper spine.  Synonyms: crookback, hunchback.
3.
Large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it dives.  Synonyms: humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae.






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"Humpback" Quotes from Famous Books



... Willis was fond of it. As a relief to monotony it may be now and then allowed,—may even have an agreeable effect in breaking the monotony of too formal verse. But it may easily become a deformity and a cause of aversion. A humpback may add picturesqueness to a procession, but if there are too many humpbacks in line we turn away from the sight of them. Can any ear reconcile itself to the last of ...
— Ralph Waldo Emerson • Oliver Wendell Holmes

... "That old humpback rattlesnake oil man must have come to life again, just like Rip Van Winkle," declared Nuthin, who seemed to have heard the story somewhere; "and could you blame him for wanting ham, after sniffing the delicious smells that went ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts on a Tour - The Mystery of Rattlesnake Mountain • George A. Warren

... 'To-morrow you'll wake bright, and, in a safe skin, hug Your sound selves, Tab and you, over a foaming jug! You've had such qualms before, time out of mind!' He's right! Did not we kick and cuff and curse away, that night, When home we blindly reeled, and left poor humpback Joe I' the lurch to pay for what ... somebody did, you know! Both of us maundered then 'Lame humpback,—never more Will he come limping, drain his tankard at our door! He'll swing, while—somebody....' Says Tab, 'No, ...
— Browning's England - A Study in English Influences in Browning • Helen Archibald Clarke

... humpback, drawing his hand across his mouth; "I am parched with thirst, and dying to moisten my throat at the wine-shop over the way. Just mind that man and woman while I'm gone, will you? It's the merest form—there's a guard outside, the windows are barred, ...
— After Dark • Wilkie Collins

... One of the fellows, with long black hair and bushy beard,—a hideous squint adding to the ferocity of his appearance,—advanced with a horse-pistol in one hand, the other outstretched as if to seize the major's rein. At the same time a short but strongly-built ruffian, with a humpback, sprang towards me, evidently intending to drag me off my horse, or to haul the animal away, so that I might be separated ...
— Paddy Finn • W. H. G. Kingston

... Pau, that, while smiling and happy, she overheard between two Viennese, strangers to her, this short dialogue, every word of which was like a knife in her heart: "What a charming fellow that Menko is!" "Yes; is his wife ugly or a humpback? or is he jealous as Othello? She is never seen." "His wife! Is he married?" "Yes: he married a Blavka, the daughter of Angel Blavka, of ...
— Prince Zilah, Complete • Jules Claretie

... numerous baleen whales belonging to the three species unique to these southernmost seas: the bowhead whale (or "right whale," according to the English), which has no dorsal fin; the humpback whale from the genus Balaenoptera (in other words, "winged whales"), beasts with wrinkled bellies and huge whitish fins that, genus name regardless, do not yet form wings; and the finback whale, yellowish brown, the swiftest of all cetaceans. This ...
— 20000 Leagues Under the Seas • Jules Verne

... made me sore—although he missed me by several locations, I'll say that for him—so I gave him the ten and told him I'd kick the hump on his back so high up on his shoulders he could wear it for a hat, if he ever shoved into my daylight again. And you never in your life saw a humpback make better time than ...
— The Mascot of Sweet Briar Gulch • Henry Wallace Phillips

... claws, old greyback! If you want I should leave this roof, just come and put me off. Try it on, old Beeswax. Yes, yes! try it on once, and we'll see whose eyes will look straightest in the morning! Come on, old Humpback! Try ...
— Wild Northern Scenes - Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod • S. H. Hammond

... to Richmond's side, the common people held back; only three thousand troops, perhaps personal retainers of their lords, united themselves to the two thousand Richmond hired abroad. It was any thing but a popular uprising against the jealous, hateful, bloody humpback of Shakspeare; it excuses the fatal precipitancy with which the King (instead of gathering his troops from the scattered fortifications) not only hurried on the battle, but, when the mine of treason ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... in the doorway a creature so abominably ugly and of such a malicious aspect, that Ildico thought he was a demon. He was as jet-black as a negro from tropical Africa, and his head seemed to rest on his stomach, for he had no chest. He was a dwarf and humpback; his name was Hamilcar, ...
— Historical Miniatures • August Strindberg



Words linked to "Humpback" :   Megaptera, baleen whale, cripple, genus Megaptera, whalebone whale, spinal curvature



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