What's the difference between hum and reek?

Hum


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make a low, prolonged sound, like that of a bee in flight; to drone; to murmur; to buzz; as, a top hums.
  • (v. i.) To make a nasal sound, like that of the letter m prolonged, without opening the mouth, or articulating; to mumble in monotonous undertone; to drone.
  • (v. i.) To make an inarticulate sound, like h'm, through the nose in the process of speaking, from embarrassment or a affectation; to hem.
  • (v. i.) To express satisfaction by a humming noise.
  • (v. i.) To have the sensation of a humming noise; as, my head hums, -- a pathological condition.
  • (v. t.) To sing with shut mouth; to murmur without articulation; to mumble; as, to hum a tune.
  • (v. t.) To express satisfaction with by humming.
  • (v. t.) To flatter by approving; to cajole; to impose on; to humbug.
  • (n.) A low monotonous noise, as of bees in flight, of a swiftly revolving top, of a wheel, or the like; a drone; a buzz.
  • (n.) Any inarticulate and buzzing sound
  • (n.) The confused noise of a crowd or of machinery, etc., heard at a distance; as, the hum of industry.
  • (n.) A buzz or murmur, as of approbation.
  • (n.) An imposition or hoax.
  • (interj.) An inarticulate nasal sound or murmur, like h'm, uttered by a speaker in pause from embarrassment, affectation, etc.
  • (interj.) A kind of strong drink formerly used.
  • (interj.) Ahem; hem; an inarticulate sound uttered in a pause of speech implying doubt and deliberation.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As he sits in Athens wondering when the International Monetary Fund is going to deliver another bailout, George Papandreou might be tempted to hum a few lines of Tired of Waiting for You.
  • (2) Although the cranes swing, much of the new living zones now being created range from the ho-hum to the outright catastrophic.
  • (3) Mononuclear cells were fractionated from human cord blood by affinity chromatography on immobilized peanut agglutinin, as previously described (Rosenberg et al., Hum Immunol 7:67, 1983).
  • (4) Managers scurry back and forth across the Atlantic with advance copies handcuffed to their wrists, critics are required to sign contracts promising that they will not so much as hum the contents to their nearest and dearest, and the music press acts as if the world is about to witness the most significant release since Nelson Mandela's.
  • (5) He shook his head from side to side, whispering or humming the same three-note tune.
  • (6) The apolipoprotein E3-Leiden variant has been shown to be associated with familial dysbetalipoproteinemia (FD) in a dominant manner (Havekes et al., Hum Genet 1986;73:157-163).
  • (7) The politics of football have long been accompanied by a background hum of corruption claims, but in recent times it has become a cacophony.
  • (8) Selling its own phone would mean it could make itself the background hum of many peoples' lives everywhere – and show adverts and collect data on its own terms.
  • (9) His father, who was fond of humming the popular ballad Keep Right on to the End of the Road, lost his job in the great depression of the early 1930s.
  • (10) Hollow-eyed children beg outside restaurants and cafes that hum with the chatter of shisha-smoking customers.
  • (11) Her hums on early awards buzz Speaking of Oscar contenders, it will be fascinating to see how Spike Jonze's latest movie pans out.
  • (12) That robs astronomy of one of its key recruiting tools: the chance to plant young scientists under the dish and let its hum capture their imagination.
  • (13) Four hours from the Zurich madhouse, Uefa’s base on the shores of Lake Geneva in Nyon hums with calm purpose.
  • (14) He made politics great again in the sense of getting people to care instead of allowing it to hum softly in the background.
  • (15) I am not sure that a lucrative career in rape gags is more helpful than a failed one, but the rape hum seems eternal.
  • (16) "I wouldn't say this agreement was entirely ho-hum but it does not address the big ticket issues.
  • (17) And I think Stephen hummed and hah-ed in an embarrassed fashion.
  • (18) humming, whistling) for atonal melody, but that non-musicians could not use any effective strategies for melody coding.
  • (19) At the moment the noise is like a city humming away.
  • (20) Without the faintest idea what I was humming along to, my mother left me to my obsession with nothing more than a shrug.

Reek


Definition:

  • (n.) A rick.
  • (n.) Vapor; steam; smoke; fume.
  • (v. i.) To emit vapor, usually that which is warm and moist; to be full of fumes; to steam; to smoke; to exhale.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The semi-final reeked of history as it pitted South Americans who had won the trophy twice against opponents with so much to rue in this competition.
  • (2) But the top-down crudity of the policy reeks of wonks who have never left a Westminster thinktank.
  • (3) A., Reeke, G. N., Jr., Quiocho, F. A., Bethge, P. H., Ludwig, M. L., Steitz, T. A., Muirhead, H., and Coppola, J. C. (1968) Brookhaven Symp.
  • (4) He blamed the reek and weird industry he was watching.
  • (5) Riffs that echo Metallica's Black Album, an encore that references Born to Run, and a band of session musicians straight out of 80s rock central casting; an Eric Church gig reeks of classic rock right down to the lead man's aviators, stubble and Jack Daniel's and Coke.
  • (6) This is based on a myth – there would have been little impact on the outcome of almost any postwar British elections if Scotland's votes were not included – but this silence still reeks of hypocrisy.
  • (7) Photograph: Kareem Shaheen for the Guardian The Guardian, the first western media organisation to visit the site of the attack, examined a warehouse and silos directly next to where the missile had landed, and found nothing but an abandoned space covered in dust and half-destroyed silos reeking of leftover grain and animal manure.
  • (8) The fish that were not killed by the heavy pollution now reek of petroleum and cannot sustain a village population of 69,000 people.
  • (9) Despite it being the second day of 30C-plus daytime heat and desert dust whipped up by the wind, accompanied by the omnipresent reek of strong weed, there are no sparked-out casualties to be seen.
  • (10) (Reeke, G. N., Jr., Becker, J. W., and Edelman, G. M. (1975) J. Biol.
  • (11) Photograph: Fox Searchlight Plinking harpsichord music Almost the entire soundtrack is by Alexandre Desplat, so we’re going to assume it reeks of harpsichord.
  • (12) The air reeked of pine resin and the pitchy vinegar of wood ants.
  • (13) Cameron worried that the whole Stronger In approach reeked of a metropolitan europhilia that would not chime with the public mood.
  • (14) Sneaked out quietly in a written answer to the House of Lords on Monday, the end of British support for search and rescue operations in the southern Mediterranean reeks suspiciously of Australia’s “stop the boats” solution .
  • (15) Yet the old togetherness is only visible in short bursts these days and the second Mourinho era is in danger of ending in bitter acrimony after Chelsea lurched deeper into crisis with a performance that reeked of indiscipline on and off the pitch at Upton Park.
  • (16) I landed back in Edmonton, and upon exiting the airport, was immediately struck by the overwhelming reek of nature.
  • (17) While sales figures are still miniscule, hundreds of new cassette labels have begun over the past few years; her favourites include Suplex , Reeks of Effort and Sexbeat , which is releasing a Cassette Store Day exclusive by Polaris music prize winners Fucked Up .
  • (18) Everything we owned was being flogged off by pinstriped bastards reeking of lunch.
  • (19) This guy was more than fifty years old, his clothes were oily, he wore a pair of yellow rubber shoes, and his clothes reeked of pesticide.
  • (20) Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, wrote on social media that the British bank’s decision earlier this week to close RT’s bank accounts “reeked of” the BBC – implying the British state broadcaster may have been pressing for the closure of Russia Today.

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