hum

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See also: Hum, húm, and hùm

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English hummen (“to hum, buzz, drone, make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment”); akin to Dutch hommelen (“to bumble, buzz”), dialectal Dutch hommen (“to buzz, hum”), Middle High German hummen (“to hum”), probably ultimately of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhʌm/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌm

Noun

hum (plural hums)

  1. A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
  2. An often indistinct sound resembling human humming.
    They could hear a hum coming from the kitchen, and found the dishwasher on.
    • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      the shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
  3. Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive.
  4. (UK, slang) unpleasant odour.
  5. (dated) An imposition or hoax; humbug.
  6. (obsolete) A kind of strong drink.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)
  7. A phenomenon, or collection of phenomena, involving widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

The Hum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

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  1. (intransitive) To make a sound from the vocal chords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed.
    We are humming happily along with the music.
  2. (transitive) To express by humming.
    to hum a tune
    The team ominously hummed “We shall overcome” as they came back onto the field after the break.
  3. (intransitive) To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly
    • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 2
      A slight gloom fell upon the table. Jacob was helping himself to jam; the postman was talking to Rebecca in the kitchen; there was a bee humming at the yellow flower which nodded at the open window.
  4. (intransitive) To buzz, be busily active like a beehive
    The streets were humming with activity.
  5. (intransitive) To produce low sounds which blend continuously
  6. (British, slang) To reek, smell bad.
    This room really hums — have you ever tried spring cleaning, mate?
  7. (transitive, UK, dated, slang) To flatter by approving; to cajole; to deceive or impose upon; to humbug.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

hum

  1. Synonym of hmm: a noise indicating thought, consideration, &c.
    • 1890, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four:
      “'Hum!' said he. 'A fifth share! That is not very tempting.'
      “'It would come to fifty thousand apiece,' said I.
  2. Synonym of um: a noise indicating doubt, uncertainty, &c.
    • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 27:
      Ah, now, this is why we must proceed with great circumspection. They were both, hum, “put out” themselves.

Anagrams

Albanian

Etymology

Unknown. Maybe from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *skew- (“to cover, conceal”).

Noun

hum m (plural humi, definite huma)

  1. rough sea

Dutch

Etymology 1

jocular abbreviation of humeur (cfr.)

Noun

hum n (plural hummen, diminutive hummetje n)

  1. (good) mood

Etymology 2

onomatopoeia

Alternative forms

Interjection

hum!

  1. uttering to attract attention, without literal meaning

Jakaltek

Etymology

From Proto-Mayan *huuʼng.

Noun

hum

  1. paper

References

  • Church, Clarence, Church, Katherine (1955) Vocabulario castellano-jacalteco, jacalteco-castellano‎[1] (in Spanish), Guatemala C. A.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 45; 23

Middle English

Pronoun

hum

  1. Alternative form of hem

References

Ngamo

Noun

hùm

  1. water

References

  • Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 201, →ISBN:
    […] we should carefully distinguish the following Ch. roots from AA *m-ˀ "water" [GT]:
    (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *hām) [GT 2004, 153] = *am [Stl. 1977] = *ham [Dlg.] = *ham [Stl. 1987]: […] Ngamo hùm [Schuh], […]

Portuguese

Article

hum m (plural huns, feminine huma, feminine plural humas)

  1. Obsolete spelling of um.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *xъlmъ.

Pronunciation

Noun

hȗm m (Cyrillic spelling ху̑м)

  1. hillock
  2. barrow, tumulus (mound of earth raised over a grave)
Declension
Declension of hum
singular plural
nominative hȗm húmovi
genitive huma humova
dative humu humovima
accusative hum humove
vocative hume humovi
locative humu humovima
instrumental humom humovima
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Unknown origin.

Noun

hum f (Cyrillic spelling хум)

  1. (obsolete) arrogance
Synonyms

References

  • “hum” in Hrvatski jezični portal
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