Hum vs Shy - What's the difference?
hum | shy |
A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
An often indistinct sound resembling human humming.
* Shakespeare
Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive.
(UK, slang) unpleasant odour.
(dated) An imposition or hoax; humbug.
(obsolete) A kind of strong drink.
To make a sound from the vocal chords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed.
To express by humming.
To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly
* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
To buzz, be busily active like a beehive
To produce low sounds which blend continuously
(British) To reek, smell bad.
(British) To deceive, or impose on one by some story or device.
(transitive, dated, slang) To flatter by approving; to cajole; to impose on; to humbug.
hmm; an inarticulate sound uttered in a pause of speech implying doubt and deliberation.
Easily frightened; timid.
* Jonathan Swift
Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
* Arbuthnot
Cautious; wary; suspicious.
* Boyle
* Sir H. Wotton
Short, insufficient or less than.
Embarrassed.
To avoid due to timidness or caution.
To jump back in fear.
to throw sideways with a jerk; to fling
An act of throwing.
* Punch
* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 55:
A place for throwing.
A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.
As nouns the difference between hum and shy
is that hum is twilight, dusk while shy is an act of throwing.As an adjective shy is
easily frightened; timid.As a verb shy is
to avoid due to timidness or caution.hum
English
(wikipedia hum)Noun
(en noun)- They could hear a hum coming from the kitchen, and found the dishwasher on.
- the shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
- (Beaumont and Fletcher)
Verb
(humm)- We are humming happily along with the music.
- to hum a tune
- ''The hazers ominously hummed "We shall overcome" while they paddled the unruly pledges
- A slight gloom fell upon the table. Jacob was helping himself to jam; the postman was talking to Rebecca in the kitchen; there was a bee humming at the yellow flower which nodded at the open window.
- 'The streets were humming with activity.''
- This room really hums — have you ever tried spring cleaning, mate?
Derived terms
* hummer * hummingbird * humming-topSynonyms
* bumble * bustle * hustle * buzz * croon * whirAnagrams
*Interjection
(en interjection)- (Alexander Pope)
shy
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- The horses of the army were no longer shy , but would come up to my very feet without starting.
- He is very shy with strangers.
- What makes you so shy , my good friend? There's nobody loves you better than I.
- I am very shy of using corrosive liquors in the preparation of medicines.
- Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.
- By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
- It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
See also
* bashful * reserved * timid * demure * coyUsage notes
* Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase. * Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy'' "shy of leashes" or ''head shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.Synonyms
* See alsoAntonyms
* brazen * bold * audaciousDerived terms
(terms derived using shy as suffix) * -shy * bird-shy * boy-shy * car-shy * cat-shy * camera-shy * cover-shy * girl-shy * gun-shy * hand-shy * man-shy * mouse-shy * noise-shy * people-shy * water-shy * woman-shy * work-shyVerb
- I shy away from investment opportunities I don't understand.
- The horse shied''' away from the rider, which startled him so much he '''shied away from the horse.
- to shy''' a stone; to '''shy a slipper
Noun
(shies)- (Thackeray)
- If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody.
- The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy .
- coconut shy