HARRUMPH verb (huh-ruhmf)

verb

1. to clear the throat audibly in a self-important manner: The professor harrumphed good-naturedly.
2. to express oneself gruffly.


Quotes

He harrumphed and wheezed, tugged on a greying whisker, cast his gaze around my tiny cabin for another topic.
--*Ronald Wright,*Henderson's Spear, 2001

He studied me with a cold policeman's eye. I resorted once again to my mumbling tactics. He harrumphed and we both went our ways.
--*Ted Reynolds,*"Furtive Free Ride," Life, February 7, 1964



Origin

Harrumph was first recorded in the 1930s. It is imitative of the sound made by clearing the throat.