# sing

Pronunciation: say "SING" /sɪŋ/

## Verb

1. To make musical sounds with the voice, or to perform a song or words this way.
   - Simple: To make music with your voice, using words or a tune.
   - _They sing in the church choir every Sunday morning._
   - _He sang beautifully during the closing recital._
3. Of a bird, to make its musical call.
   - Simple: Of a bird, to make its musical sounds.
   - _At dawn the sparrows sing among the blossoming branches._
   - _A lark sang high over the silent fields._
4. To soothe or comfort someone by singing to them.
   - Simple: To calm 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._
7. To confess, or to give the police information about others, especially under questioning. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To admit secrets when the police question you.
   - _Detectives expected the suspect to sing once the evidence piled up._
   - _He sang to the prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence._
8. To come fully alive and be at its best, so that its quality is unmistakable.
   - Simple: To be really good and stand out in a special way.
   - _The whole production sings when the lead actor takes the stage._
   - _Good ingredients make even a simple dish sing._
5. To relate in verse; to celebrate a subject in poetry.
   - Simple: To tell a story or praise something in a poem.
   - _Ancient bards sing of gods, voyages, and fallen kings._
   - _She sang the deeds of her people in a long ballad._
9. Of a song or text, to be capable of being sung, or to produce a certain effect when sung.
   - Simple: Of a song or words, to be possible to sing, or to sound a certain way when sung.
   - _The new arrangement sings more smoothly than the original._
   - _Folk tunes that sing easily tend to last for generations._
10. To make a small, high-pitched, shrill sound.
   - Simple: To make a high, thin sound, like a kettle or a wire.
   - _Telephone lines sing whenever the wind picks up._
   - _The bullets sang past as the soldiers ducked for cover._
12. To be full of intense happiness or delight, said of a person's heart or spirit.
   - Simple: To feel full of great happiness, used about your 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._
6. 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.
   - Simple: For animals like frogs, crickets, and whales (not birds): to make a pattern of sounds, often to find a mate.
   - _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._

## Noun

2. The act or occasion of singing songs, often as a shared group event.
   - Simple: A time spent singing songs, often with other people.
   - _The community organized a sing to raise money for the village hall._
   - _After dinner there was a cheerful sing beside the fire._

## Verb

11. To raise one's voice in a loud cry; to yell or shout. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To shout or call out in a loud voice.

## Other meanings

- (verb) In traditional Aboriginal culture, to direct a supernatural influence, usually harmful, onto a person or thing; to curse.

## 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'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sing (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).