sing

SING/sɪŋ/

Verbsings, singing, sang, sung

Noun pluralsings

13 meanings of sing

Practice

1
vocal musicverbintransitive
To make musical sounds with the voice, or to perform a song or words this way.
They sing in the church choir every Sunday morning.
He sang beautifully during the closing recital.
UsagePast sang, past participle sung: she has sung (not ~~incorrect: she sung~~).
2
nouncountable
The act or occasion of singing songs, often as a shared group event.
The community organized a sing to raise money for the village hall.
After dinner there was a cheerful sing beside the fire.
UsageOften in have a sing: we had a good sing after dinner.
Note
The noun is homely and social, and it lives in the frame have a sing: a quick sing in the car, "have a good sing", "have you had a nice sing?" Small adjectives like quick, good and nice do most of the work. It can also name an arranged gathering, like young people asking a woman whether they might hold a sing at her home, which is closer to a singalong than a concert.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The quoted wording "have a good sing" is attested. en.wiktionary.org
The quoted question "have you had a nice sing?" is attested. en.wiktionary.org
An attested example describes young people asking a woman to have a singing gathering at her home. en.wiktionary.org
3
sweet bird soundverbtransitive or intransitive
Of a bird, to make its musical call.
At dawn the sparrows sing among the blossoming branches.
A lark sang high over the silent fields.
Similarwarble, chirp, trill, tweet, twitter
Note
Poetry's birds rather than the field guide's: any sweet sound from a bird counts, whatever its purpose. Tennyson leans on it in In Memoriam (1850): "I do but sing because I must, / And pipe but as the linnets sing." The convention also lets birds sing "in praise of spring", which lends them feeling. It is also the everyday way to talk about birdsong.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Alfred Tennyson wrote In Memoriam. en.wikisource.org
In Memoriam was first published in 1850. en.wikisource.org
The quoted lines occur in In Memoriam. en.wikisource.org
4
lullverbtransitive
To soothe or comfort someone by singing to them.
Every night she sang her fussy baby to sleep in the old rocking chair.
When thunder wakes the twins, their grandfather likes to sing them back to sleep.
UsageSing someone to sleep: she sang the baby to sleep.
Similarlull
Note
A resultative pattern: you sing someone to sleep or into calm, and the phrase after the object names the state they end in. Without that phrase, the meaning slips back to singing a song aloud or simply singing to someone. The soothing lives in the destination, not in the verb.
5
tell in verseverbtransitive or intransitive
To relate in verse; to celebrate a subject in poetry.
Ancient bards sing of gods, voyages, and fallen kings.
She sang the deeds of her people in a long ballad.
Similarcelebrate, recount, chronicle
Note
The bard's verb, where singing means composing rather than vocalizing. Milton asks in "Lycidas" (1638), "Who would not sing for Lycidas?", and Solomon in Matthew Prior's poem (1718) bids his muse "sing / Of human Hope". It takes two constructions: sing of a subject, or sing the subject directly, as in sing the deeds of heroes. Either way, the object is a theme, not a tune.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
Milton's Lycidas was first published in 1638. natlib.govt.nz
Lycidas contains the exact question quoted. milton.host.dartmouth.edu
The Prior passage belongs to a poem published in 1718. eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
Prior's poem contains the quoted words across a line break. eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
Solomon is the speaker in Matthew Prior's Solomon on the Vanity of the World, Book II. eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
6
verbtransitive or intransitive
Of frogs, crickets, humpback whales and other animals apart from birds: to make their song, the patterned sequence of sounds that males usually produce in connection with mating.
In the winter breeding grounds, male humpbacks sing long, carefully patterned songs that travel far through the water.
By midnight hundreds of male tree frogs were singing around the pond, each one trying to draw a female.
Similarcall

Less common meanings

7
confessverbslangintransitive
To confess, or to give the police information about others, especially under questioning.
Detectives expected the suspect to sing once the evidence piled up.
He sang to the prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence.
UsageSomeone sings, or sings to the police, and it suggests betrayal.
Similartalk, confess, squeal, snitch, rat
Note
Criminal and police slang for informing: a suspect who sings gives the police information, usually by naming accomplices or admitting to a crime. The fuller phrase sing like a canary stresses how freely the details pour out.
8
excelverbintransitive
To come fully alive and be at its best, so that its quality is unmistakable.
The whole production sings when the lead actor takes the stage.
Good ingredients make even a simple dish sing.
UsageOften make something sing: lime makes the curry sing.
Similarshine, sparkle, excel
Note
Praise borrowed from music: a dish, a production, even a physics experiment sings when everything in it works together.
9
verbintransitive
Of a song or text, to be capable of being sung, or to produce a certain effect when sung.
The new arrangement sings more smoothly than the original.
Folk tunes that sing easily tend to last for generations.
UsageUsually with an adverb: a tune sings well, sings easily.
Note
An ergative use, in which the song itself is the subject: a song sings well, much as a book reads well. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1875) puts it bluntly: "No song sings well unless it is open-vowelled."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine printed the quoted words in 1875. en.wiktionary.org
10
high whineverbintransitive
To make a small, high-pitched, shrill sound.
Telephone lines sing whenever the wind picks up.
The bullets sang past as the soldiers ducked for cover.
Similarwhistle, whine, zing
Note
The verb transferred from voices to things: air whistling through a crevice, a kettle, a spear in flight. Pope's Iliad (1715–1720) has a spear that "sang innocent, and spent its force in air" (some printings read sung, an older past form). The present participle also works as an adjective, as in a singing kettle. Nothing intentional is implied; the sound is simply high and thin.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Alexander Pope’s translation of the Iliad was first published between 1715 and 1720. en.wikipedia.org
Pope’s Iliad describes a flying spear with the quoted wording. gutenberg.org
Some editions give ‘Sung’ in this line. en.wikisource.org
‘Sung’ is an older simple-past form of ‘sing’. en.wiktionary.org
11
verbarchaic
To raise one's voice in a loud cry; to yell or shout.
Note
Old slang in which to sing was simply to cry out loud. Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor records a convict who took his flogging "like a stone": had he sung under the lash, his fellows would have drugged him and cracked his head. Keep it apart from the "confess" meaning, because here nothing is revealed, only noise. Now archaic, it suits period writing better than everyday speech.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Sing historically had a slang sense meaning to yell or shout. en.wiktionary.org
Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor records a convict describing his flogging with the exact words quoted. gutenberg.org
The convict said that crying out would have prompted fellow convicts to drug him and strike his head while he slept. gutenberg.org
Sing in this passage means expressing pain audibly, rather than confessing. gutenberg.org
12
verbintransitivefigurative
To be full of intense happiness or delight, said of a person's heart or spirit.
Her spirit sang as the plane broke through the clouds into clear blue sky.
Hearing his daughter laugh again made his heart sing after months of worry.
UsageUsually make someone's heart sing. The past is sang (not ~~incorrect: sung~~).
Similarsoar, rejoice
Oppositesink
Note
The subject decides it: when a heart or spirit sings, the joy belongs to the person. When a painting, a wine or a sentence sings, it is the "stand out as excellent" meaning instead, praise for the thing rather than a feeling in anyone.
13
verbAustralia
In traditional Aboriginal culture, to direct a supernatural influence, usually harmful, onto a person or thing; to curse.
‘We sung them two real good. We never give Louis Beck no place to find rest from his torment.’
2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of sing apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English 'singen', from Old English 'singan' ('to sing'), which traces back through Proto-Germanic *singwaną to a Proto-Indo-European root *sengʷʰ- meaning 'to recite, sing'. It is related to Dutch 'zingen', German 'singen', and Swedish 'sjunga'.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Middle English singen is a form of the ancestor of English sing. en.wiktionary.org
The Middle English verb derives from Old English singan, meaning 'to sing', through Proto-Germanic *singwaną. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *singwaną derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *sengʷʰ-, meaning 'to recite, sing'. en.wiktionary.org
English sing is related to Dutch zingen through their shared Germanic ancestor. en.wiktionary.org
English sing is related to German singen through their shared Germanic ancestor. en.wiktionary.org
English sing is related to Swedish sjunga through their shared Germanic ancestor. en.wiktionary.org