hump strap n. a band, belt, rope, or similar long, narrow strip used for carrying heavy objects, especially on one’s back. Editorial Note: The most common way to use a hump strap is to wrap it once securely around the object to be moved, take each end of the strap over a shoulder from back to front, and then, moving from a squatting to a standing position, grip and pull the ends (or, if the hump strap is a loop without free ends, the other side of the loop) of the strap forward and downward in order to lift the object up on one’s back as one stands. Hump straps are also used to hold many boxes or other items on a dolly or hand truck or as a sling for large furniture that might otherwise require the lifter to bend at the waist. Etymological Note: According to the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, the verb hump, meaning to hoist or carry (a bundle) upon the back or to carry or shift (a heavy object), not necessarily upon the back, dates to at least as early as 1851. The earliest quotations so far found are Australian. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick...
Brittany in Green Coast Springs, Florida, says that when she was grumpy or irritated as a child, her mother would say a phrase that sounded like Don’t be such a scooch. This bit of Italian-American slang, often rendered as skutch, denotes a “pest”...