humming

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of hum.

   A generator was humming somewhere behind the building.

   Humming under her breath, she finished the report.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. In "was humming" it builds the progressive, and in "Humming helps me think" it works as a noun. Note that hum doubles its m before the ending. The verb can take an object, as when you hum a tune, or stand alone, as an engine or a busy office hums. Its British slang sense of reeking gives the "smelly" adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Producing a low, continuous sound, like a hum or soft buzz.

   Like the steady drone of a distant motor that never quite stops.

   The humming transformer on the pole gave off a steady drone.

   Engineers traced the noise to a humming cooling fan inside the case.

   Similarbuzzing, whirring

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A low, continuous sound made by something that hums.

   The humming of the refrigerator was the only sound in the kitchen.

   He noticed a faint electrical humming behind the wall.

   Similarbuzzing, droning, whirring, buzz, drone

   Note

   The noun is older than it looks: Middle English already had hummynge, built the same way from hum and -ing. Unlike the verb form, it takes a plural, hummings, for a run of separate sounds. New York Magazine in 1969 listed "various screechings and hummings" among the additions to Shakespeare fragments. Where one steady sound is meant, plain hum does the same work.

4. 4
   adjectiveslangUK

   Giving off a very bad, unpleasant smell.

   Open a window. Somebody left their gym clothes in the locker room all weekend and they're humming.

   That cheese is properly humming, so keep it out of the fridge.

   Similarstinking, reeking, smelly, rank, pongy

   Oppositefresh, fragrant

   Note

   British slang that belongs to the nose, not the ear. Bins, sweaty kit and forgotten leftovers hum in this sense, and it belongs in casual talk rather than careful writing. Because the "low steady sound" adjective shares the spelling, let the context point to smell. Otherwise a humming changing room could simply be a noisy one.

Showing meanings only. Show all 5