hum
Valid in Scrabble
- Scrabble points
- 8
- Words With Friends
- 9
- Letters
- 3
See all 3 pronunciations Show less
Definition of hum
19 senses · 4 parts of speech · etymology included
noun
- A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
See all 19 definitions Show less
noun
- A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
-
An often indistinct sound resembling human humming.
“They could hear a hum coming from the kitchen, and found the dishwasher on.”
“the shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums”
- Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive.
- (UK, slang)Unpleasant odour.
- (dated)An imposition or hoax; humbug.
-
(obsolete)A kind of strong drink.
“you do provide me hum enough , And lour to bouse with”
-
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.
“There is a range of theories from farm or factory machinery to conspiracy theories such as flying saucers. And yet, "the hum" remains an unsolved case.”
- (Malaysia, Singapore, informal, uncountable)Synonym of see hum (“blood cockles, ark clams”).
- (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of highly unusual method: any of a class of contract bridge bidding systems that require advance preparation to contend with, and are usually restricted to the highest levels of tournament play.
verb
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(intransitive)To make a sound from the vocal cords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed.
“We are humming happily along with the music.”
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(transitive)To express by humming.
“to hum a tune”
“The team hummed “We Shall Overcome” as they came back onto the field after the break.”
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(intransitive)To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly.
“The leaves of the foreſt were loaded with manna, pure amber dropped from every bough, honey diſtilled from the rifted rock, and the humming bee, drunk with joy, ſtrayed from flower to flower, forgetful of his burſting cells.”
“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.”
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(intransitive)To buzz, be busily active like a beehive
“The streets were humming with activity.”
- (intransitive)To produce low sounds which blend continuously
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(British, slang)To reek, smell bad.
“This room really hums — have you ever tried spring cleaning, mate?”
- (UK, dated, slang, transitive)To flatter by approving; to cajole; to deceive or impose upon; to humbug.
intj
-
Synonym of hmm: a noise indicating thought, consideration, &c.
“Hum! hum! What's all this?”
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Synonym of um: a noise indicating doubt, uncertainty, &c.
“Ah, now this is why we must proceed with great circumspection. They were both, hum, “put out” themselves.”
name
- A town in the central part of Istria, northwest Croatia, 7 km from Roč.
Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
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.
Words you can make from hum
4 playable · top: HM (7 pts)
Best play hm 7 points2-letter words
3 wordsHooks
3 extensions · 1 front · 2 back
A single letter you can add to hum to make another valid word.
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See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes hum, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.