[lit-ideas] H'mf!
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:15:15 EST
Geary on W. Owen, Dulce et decorum.
>there it was in all the anthologies. The powers that were could only hrumph
their disapproval.
humph: The inarticulate syllable ‘h'mf!’, used: app. as a signal: cf.
HUMPH.
1681 OTWAY Soldier's Fort. IV. i,
Truly a good Conscience is a great Happiness; and so I'll pledge you, hemph,
hemph.
as an expression of doubt or dissatisfaction. Also n., as a name for this
utterance.
1815 Sixteen & Sixty I. ii,
Humph!..her lips are of the brightest.
1824 SCOTT Redgauntlet Let. ii,
A half articulated ‘humph!’ which seemed to convey a doubt.
1840 HOOD Up the Rhine 75
My Uncle received this intelligence with a ‘Humph’.
1865 KINGSLEY Herew. iv, ‘Humph!’ says the eagle.
1872 DARWIN Emotions iv. 86 His humph of assent was rendered by a slight
modulation strongly emphatic.
To utter an inarticulate ‘h'mf!’. as a signal.
1681 OTWAY Soldier's Fort. II. i,
I desire you to humph..and look back at me.
as an expression of doubt or dissatisfaction.
1814 JANE AUSTEN Mansf. Park xlv,
After humphing and considering over a particular paragraph.
1834 L. RITCHIE Wand. by Seine 70
Some of the polite Frenchmen humphed, and shrugged their shoulders.
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