humpbacks

Noun

humpback (plural humpbacks)

1. A humped back (deformity in humans caused by abnormal curvature of the upper spine).
   • […] the Stone in my Fathers Body was so immense, that I’ve wonder’d it did not bunch up behind, and make him have a Hump-back, or at least overpoise him in walking, and drag him backward with its incredible weight.1691, John Dunton, chapter 6, in A Voyage Round the World, London: Richard Newcome, page 122
   1. (broadly) A hump or protuberance on the shoulders or back of an animal.
      • […] the cows stood about with gloomy eyes and hump-backs, surly and dangerous […]1902, Somerset Maugham, chapter 16, in Mrs Craddock, London: Heinemann, published 1955, page 157
   2. (figuratively) A rounded topographical feature, such as a mountain or hill.
      • On either side were the high, irregularly sloped mountains, with their foot hills robed in the same bright green as the valley, and with their bald hump-backs and sharp peaks, treeless, verdureless, and desolate […]1858, Royal B. Stratton, Captivity of the Oatman Girls, San Francisco: [for the author], Chapter 4, p. 134
2. (derogatory, offensive) A person with a humpback; a person who suffers from kyphosis.
   • […] Tom’s more specific and kindly impressions gradually melted into the old background of suspicion and dislike toward him as a queer fellow, a humpback, and the son of a rogue.1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, Book 2, Chapter 6

   Synonyms:

   crookback, hunchback

3. A humpback whale.
4. A humpback salmon.

See all 7 meanings of humpback