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# humpback

«humpback» in Mova's school dictionary: **a very large whale with long flippers that is famous for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a humpback, humpbacks); adjective (humpback whale, humpback bridge); also humpbacked (adjective)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A humpback, or humpback whale, is a very large whale with long flippers that is famous for its songs and its leaps out of the water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#m1)

2) A humpback bridge is a small bridge that rises steeply in the middle like a hump. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#m2)

3) (old-fashioned, can be unkind) A humpback was an old word for a person with a curved, bent-over back; today we say a person has a curved spine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

Mostly met in nature lessons and stories about the sea: humpbacks migrate thousands of kilometres, eat krill through baleen plates and sing long songs. Whale watching in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland often shows humpbacks breaching. In the UK countryside you see road signs for a «humpback bridge». In old fairy tales the word may describe a character; modern writers avoid it as rude. Phrases: «humpback whale», «humpback bridge», «a pod of humpbacks».

### examples

- A humpback leapt right out of the sea and crashed back down. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x1)
- Humpback whales sing songs that can last for hours. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x2)
- We saw three humpbacks on the whale-watching trip in Sydney. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x3)
- Humpbacks have no teeth; they filter krill through baleen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x4)
- The car slowed down for the humpback bridge. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x5)
- A baby humpback is called a calf. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x6)
- Humpbacks travel to warm waters to have their calves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x7)
- The humpback slapped its long white flipper on the water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/#x8)

### note

Plural «humpbacks». Usually a compound: «humpback whale» (also «humpbacked whale»). Using «humpback» for a person is old and hurtful; say «a person with a curved back». Not to be confused with «hunchback», an old word with the same meaning for people.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «humpback» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/humpback/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.