Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. nonsense, a trick, a hoax; a whispered lie; thus run a hum on v., to cheat, to hoax.

1756		World No. 164 n.p.: Now if this be only a hum (as I suppose it is) upon our country apes, it being blown in the World will put an end to it [F&H].
a.1764		R. Lloyd ‘A Tale’ Poems (1774) 182: There, my good critics, lies the hum.
1772		G. Stevens ‘The Jolly Soul’ Songs Comic and Satyrical 64: I’ll try if I can’t tip old Boney a hum, / If not, why, may-hap he hums me.
1786		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Ode Upon Ode’ Works (1794) I 436: He threaten’d – but, behold! ’twas all a hum.
1793		J. O’Keeffe Sprigs of Laurel 2: I’ll run a hum on him.
1796		Sporting Mag. Nov. IX 108/1: The Ladle appear’d, and don’t think it a hum, / It quickly whipp’d into the old woman’s b—.
1803		Sporting Mag. Dec. XXIII 164/2: Dismal was quizz’d – it all turns out a hum.
1812		‘Momus Medlar’ ‘Macbeth’ in Smith Rejected Addresses 112: My stars, in the air here’s a knife! I’m sure it cannot be a hum.
1820		‘Peter Corcoran’ ‘King Tims the First’ in Fancy 34: Oh, lovely chum! / You, or your son, have told bouncing hum!
1822		National Advocate (N.Y.) 12 Feb. 2/2: After consulting with Mr. Hamilton, De Grass found that he had been rather too precipitate, and that, in all probability, the bond and mortgage were all a hum.
1833		C.A. Davis Letters of Major J. Downing (1835) 123: And the public good is now a-days ‘a hum’.
1840		R. Barham ‘Row in an Omnibus’ Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 213: It’s ‘No Go!’ – it’s ‘Gammon!’ – it’s ‘all a Hum’.
1845		‘A Week in Oxford’ in Bell’s Life in Sydney 25 Oct. 4/3: What lecture have I on Wednesdays, at this unseasonable hour?—it's all a hum, Tom.
1853		Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Dec. 87/2: Don’t listen to gypsy’s hums.
1854		F. St. Clair Six Days in the Metropolis 85: ‘Tell me all about it [i.e. a charity concert] — all a ‘hum’ was it not?’ [...] ‘Well, there was a screw loose’.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple II 246: It has been said [...] that my good work is all a hum.
1885		T.E. Brown Doctor 49: A hum and a huff, And none o’ the real stuff [F&H].
1888		‘’Arry on Marriage’ Punch 29 Sept. 156/1: Married life may be ticketed honey, but I know it’s more of a hum.

2. (UK Und.) a liar, equated in majority of recorded citations with a Methodist [also hum-box n.].

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: humm a liar, canting deceitful fellow, lowest order of methodist.
1821		Flash Dict. [as cit. 1809].
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 18: Hum – a liar, a canting deceitful Wesleyan methodist.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Hum a liar; a methodist.
1889		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 23 Feb. 28/2: [of an adultress] [He] married a wife who turned out a ‘hum,’ / Though he thought she was a lady.

3. something unpleasant.

1888

‘’Arry on St. Swithin’ Punch 4 Aug. 49/1: Dog-days is all a dashed hum.

4. (Aus.) a cadger, a scrounger; thus on the hum, begging, cadging.

1913		Sport (Adelaide) 1 Feb. 12/2: They Say [...] Look out for your money, Peck! Sticky fingers and beer hums in the mob.
1919		V. Marshall World of Living Dead (1969) 130: The ‘hum’, the unskilled derelict [...] who stands upon the ‘pub’ corner kerb, ‘bites’ all and sundry.
1929		Townsville Daily Bull. (Qld) 10 Aug. 16/4: I had a great old spin, and plenty of company. You know what a town it is for hums.
1939		Western Mail (Perth) 12 Oct. 10/4: Tobacco he cadged, so he was also a hum.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 136: Rigby’s a twister. He’s a hum and a liar.
1966		D. Niland Pairs and Loners 81: There’s some blokes on the track you just can’t get along with. Nuts, hums, crawlers, top-offs, twisters.