humph

alternative hmph · alternative hmpf · alternative humf

1. onomatopoeicA sound, usually made with a closed mouth pouting, indicating annoyance, indignation, disapproval, doubt, or sighing.

   And you all sure are some crazy folks, I swear! Dragging me out of my house in this cold. Humph! Just being with you crazy children is too much.

   1986, Melvin Dixon, “The Boy with Beer”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 23

   2 more examples

   `Beauty is too rare upon it. Give me no thanks, who am made happy by thy coming.' `Humph! old fellow,' said Leo aside to me in English, `the lady is very civil.'

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   "There!" panted Pollyanna, hastily plucking a pink from a vase near by and tucking it into the dark hair where it would give the best effect. "Now I reckon we're ready to be looked at!" And she held out the mirror in triumph. "Humph!" grunted the sick woman, eyeing her reflection severely. "I like red pinks better than pink ones; but then, it'll fade, anyhow, before night, so what's the difference!"

   1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna, L.C. Page, →OCLC

   Synonyms: humbug

present singular third person humphs · participle present humphing · participle past humphed · past humphed · alternative hmph · alternative hmpf · alternative humf

1. intransitiveTo utter "humph!" in doubt or disapproval.

1. A diminutive of the male given name Humphrey.