Hum Drum (Grose 1811 Dictionary)

Hum Drum

A hum drum fellow; a dull tedious narrator, a bore; also a set of gentlemen, who (Bailey says) used to meet near the Charter House, or at the King’s Head in St. John’s-street, who had more of pleasantry, and less of mystery, than the free masons.

Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.

Hum Cap * Hum Durgeon

Nearby

Nathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang

John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes

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About

Francis Grose was independently wealthy, having inherited money from his father, a jeweller. Finding himself overspending, he published a number of books; his Provincial Glossary seems to have been the starting-point for the Vulgar Tongue reproduced here.