humming

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humming^¹

/ˈhʌmɪŋ/

Rhymes with -ʌmɪŋ

verb

gerund, participle, present present participle and gerund of hum

adjective more humming · most humming

Making a hum sound.
archaic Of ale or beer: very strong. But at night crowds of visitors called at his cot, / For he told a right marvellous tale; / Yet a stronger attraction by chance he had got, / A barrel of old humming ale.
UK, slang Very bad-smelling.

humming^²

/ˈhʌmɪŋ/

Rhymes with -ʌmɪŋ

Where it comes from

From Middle English hummynge, equivalent to hum + -ing.

noun hummings

The sound of something that hums; a hum. There are some contemporary additions to these scattered fragments from Shakespeare. Mostly they are songs; sometimes they are various screechings and hummings[…]
Similar: bombination, buzz, buzzing, drone, droning, hum, humming, thrum, thrumming, whirr, whirring, whizz

Opposite: snapping

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: buzz, whirring, buzzing, droning, thrumming, crooning, murmuring, chanting, soughing, purring, rustling, vibrating, warbling, trilling, singing, intoning

noun

Opposite: snapping

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MLA

"humming." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/humming. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

humming. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/humming

Chicago

"humming." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/humming.

BibTeX

@misc{humming_2026,
  title = {humming},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/humming},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}