humm

v. t. [ Cf. Hamble. ] To separate from the awns; -- said of barley. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also hummeller. ] One who, or a machine which, hummels. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, hums; one who applauds by humming. Ainsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A humming bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sound like that made by bees; a low, murmuring sound; a hum. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hummingale, lively or strong ale. Dryden. --
Humming-bird moth (Zool.), a hawk moth. See Hawk moth, under Hawk, the bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Emitting a murmuring sound; droning; murmuring; buzzing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.), any bird of the family Trochilidæ, of which over one hundred genera are known, including about four hundred species. They are found only in America and are most abundant in the tropics. They are mostly of very small size with long slender bills adapted to sucking nectar from flowers, and are noted for the very brilliant iridescent colors of their plumage and their peculiar habit of hovering about flowers while vibrating their wings very rapidly with a humming noise; the wings are specialized for hovering flight, but they can also dart forward and fly quite rapidly. They feed both upon the nectar of flowers and upon small insects. The common humming bird or ruby-throat of the Eastern United States is Trochilus colubris. Several other species are found in the Western United States. See Calliope, and Ruby-throat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. a dim. of hump. See Hump. ] 1. A rounded knoll or hillock; a rise of ground of no great extent, above a level surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A ridge or pile of ice on an ice field. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Timbered land. See Hammock. [ Southern U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The process of forming hummocks in the collision of Arctic ice. Kane. [ 1913 Webster ]