hum

/həm/

/həm/

Other forms: humming; hummed; hums

To hum is to make a low, steady, singing sound with your mouth closed. If you don't know the words to a song on the radio, you can just hum along.

Other hums are based on the musical hum, making a similar low, constant sound. Bees hum, an electric fan hums, and your car idling quietly also hums. A figurative way to hum is to be busy and loud: "The cafe always seemed to hum with activity." The word hum is imitative (it sounds like the noise it describes), but its earliest form was hommen, in the 1500s, meaning "make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment."

Definitions of hum

1. verb

   sing with closed lips
   “She hummed a melody”

   type of:

   sing

   produce tones with the voice
2. verb

   make a low continuous sound
   “The refrigerator is humming”

   type of:

   make noise, noise, resound

   emit a noise
3. verb

   sound with a monotonous hum
   synonyms: thrum

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound
4. verb

   be noisy with activity
   synonyms: buzz, seethe

   types:

   pullulate, swarm, teem

   be teeming, be abuzz

   crawl

   be full of

   type of:

   be

   have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
5. noun

   a humming noise
   “the hum of distant traffic”

   synonyms: humming

   type of:

   noise

   sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
6. noun

   the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity
   “there is a constant hum of military preparation”

   synonyms: busyness

   type of:

   action, activeness, activity

   the state of being active