Hump"back` (?), n. [Cf. Hunchback.]

1.

A crooked back; a humped back.

Tatler.

2.

A humpbacked person; a hunchback.

3. Zool.

(a) Any whale of the genus Megaptera, characterized by a hump or bunch on the back. Several species are known. The most common ones in the North Atlantic are Megaptera longimana of Europe, and M. osphyia of America; that of the California coasts is M. versabilis.

(b) A small salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), of the northwest coast of America.

 

© Webster 1913.

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