Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of liquor, strong, frothing, esp. in humming ale n.

1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 44: Having sufficiently warmed our brains with humming Liquor, which our Lower (Silver) shall procure; if our deceitful Maunding (Begging) cannot, we then sing a catch or two in our own Language.
1685		G. Meriton In Praise of York-shire Ale 6: We shall not fail To taste such humming Stuff.
1701		Farquhar Sir Harry Wildair IV ii: The wine was humming strong.
1709		N. Ward Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 227: The powerful Effects of rare found Beer, deliciously improv’d with a dash of humming two Threads.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy I 213: Of Humming Beer my Cellar full, / I was the Yearly Donor.
1720		M. Concanen ‘A Match at Football’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 91: Our Squire [...] / Will treat them with a Cask of Humming Beer.
1756		Sham Beggar II i: For all the Claret and Champaigne / I would not give a Pin; / There’s nothing can my Palate please / Like humming British Gin.
1764		Poor Robin n.p.: Good plum puddings, good humming strong beer, good fires, and good company [N].
1770		Midnight Rambler 37: Well, said the old lump of sin, I have made thee a humming bowl that every draught you take shall make you wish for a sweetheart.
1781		‘Hobbies of the Times’ in Bullfinch 213: With draughts of humming stingo.
1790		Dialogue between a Noted Shoemaker and his Wife 2: A noted house in the neighbourhood for humming beer.
1794		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘A Rowland for an Oliver’ Works (1794) II 412: Humming porter, when their Muse was dry.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 140: Let us fortify our stomachs with a slice or two of hung beef, and a horn or so of humming stingo!

2. notably large or active, energetic, intense.

1654		E. Gayton Pleasant Notes IV iii 183: The want of which, caught in a humming lie, / The Knight that fought by th’ clock at Shrewsberry.
1684		J.H. Lacy’s Sir H. Buffoon Epilogue: With such, Ben Johnson’s humming Plays prevail.
1707		N. Ward Wooden World 75: A short Breakfast upon the Crums of Comfort, well settld down with a humming Stroke at the Brandy Bottle.
1733		Fielding Don Quixote III iv: Landlord, how fares it? You seem to drive a humming Trade here.
1865		Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1994) 491: Wegg, in coming to the ground, had received a humming knock on the back of his devoted head.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 105: The daytime pain fades alongside the feeling of belonging and just being in swing with all the humming kicks going on around you.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 3: Billy Clyde Puckett, the humminest sumbitch that ever carried a football.

3. (US black) first-rate, excellent.

1996

P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 157: I’d pretty much decided I wasn’t going to Harvard, but I didn’t say anything, because the French pastry was humming.