HUMMING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Humming

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/hˈəmɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Hum v. t.

1.

To sing with shut mouth; to murmur without articulation; to mumble; as, to hum a tune.

2.

To express satisfaction with by humming.

3.

To flatter by approving; to cajole; to impose on; to humbug. (Colloq. & Low)

Hum v. i. (past & past part. hummed; pres. part. humming)

1.

To make a low, prolonged sound, like that of a bee in flight; to drone; to murmur; to buzz; as, a top hums. "Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep."

2.

To make a nasal sound, like that of the letter m prolonged, without opening the mouth, or articulating; to mumble in monotonous undertone; to drone. "The cloudy messenger turns me his back, And hums."

3.

To make an inarticulate sound, like h'm, through the nose in the process of speaking, from embarrassment or a affectation; to hem.

4.

To express satisfaction by a humming noise. "Here the spectators hummed." Note: Formerly the habit of audiences was to express gratification by humming and displeasure by hissing.

5.

To have the sensation of a humming noise; as, my head hums, a pathological condition.

noun

Humming n. A sound like that made by bees; a low, murmuring sound; a hum.

Hummingale, lively or strong ale.

Humming-bird moth (Zool.), a hawk moth. See Hawk moth, under Hawk, the bird.

adjective

Humming adj. Emitting a murmuring sound; droning; murmuring; buzzing.

See images of 'Humming'

Etymology of 'Humming'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Humming" Quotes from Famous Books

... to the door, and on to the terrace. And as I wheeled my bicycle away from the porch, he took a step or two alongside me, his hands in his pockets, his lips humming a careless tune. And suddenly he ...

— Dead Men's Money • J. S. Fletcher

... thrown up, the garrison in their steel caps and breastplates lining the bars, and perhaps the King himself tilting in the melee, while all the ladies were throned in their galleries like banks of flowers, what a magnificent spectacle! The half-empty streets below still humming with groups of gazers not able to squeeze among the throngs about the bars, but waiting the return of the splendid procession: and more and more banners and tapestries and guards of honour shining through the wide open gates of the port all the way down to Holyrood. ...

— Royal Edinburgh - Her Saints, Kings, Prophets and Poets • Margaret Oliphant

... the humming-bird Tried with light bill, that scarce a petal stirred, The Old World flowers to virgin ...

— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... he and Rowdy went humming down to the stables, gossiping like a couple of old women ...

— Rowdy of the Cross L • B.M. Sinclair, AKA B.M. Bower

... the water below up and into the mill pond above. He never would have been able to discover just what the shadows were if one of them had not paused a moment while halfway to the top of the falling water. It poised itself for one brief instant, as a humming-bird poises over a flower, but during that fraction of time the little boy was able to see that what he thought was a shadow was really a fish going from the water below to the mill pond above. The child could hardly believe his eyes, and for a little while it seemed that the whole world ...

— Types of Children's Literature • Edited by Walter Barnes

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