croon

present singular third person croons · participle present crooning · participle past crooned · past crooned · first person past singular crooned · archaic present second person singular croonest · past second person singular crooned · archaic past second person singular croonedst · present singular third person croons · archaic present singular third person crooneth · past singular third person crooned · past plural crooned · past subjunctive crooned · participle present crooning · participle past crooned

1. transitiveTo hum or sing (a song or tune), or to speak (words), softly in a low pitch or in a sentimental manner; specifically, to sing (a popular song) in a low, mellow voice.

   He was crooning a song.

   5 more examples

   Tam ſkelpit on thro' dub and mire, / Deſpiſing vvind, and rain, and fire; / VVhiles holding faſt his gude blue bonnet; / VVhiles crooning o'er ſome auld Scots ſonnet; […]

   1790 (date written; published 1791), Robert Burns, “Tam o’ Shanter. A Tale.”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 200

   So they went, toiling up [the staircase]; she singing all the way, and Paul sometimes crooning out a feeble accompaniment.

   1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Paul's Further Progress, Growth, and Character”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 69

   [A]ny other woman would have been melted to marrow at hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise.

   1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IX, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 249

   Thou croonest thy wild death-song o'er the world; / Serene Futurity thou dost conceal; / Thy banner is the shroud, the pall unfurled / Above mankind; […]

   1856, Thomas L[ake] Harris, “Part Three”, in A Lyric of the Golden Age, New York, N.Y.: Partridge and Brittan, […], →OCLC, page 223

   By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon, / To my honey I'll croon love's tune, […]

   1909, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”, Ed[ward] Madden (lyrics), Gus Edwards (music), New York, N.Y.: Gus Edwards Music Pub Co, →OCLC, pages 4–5

2. transitiveTo soothe (a person or an animal) by singing softly.

   “But, you know, crooners gonna croon.”

   2021 September 16, Sarah Naftalis, “The Casino” (8:14 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou)

   1 more example

   [I]n his ill-remembered prayer, and in the fragment of the childish hymn with which he sung and crooned himself asleep, there breathed as true a spirit as ever studied homily expressed, or old cathedral arches echoed.

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 73.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 364

3. intransitiveTo hum or sing, or to speak, softly in a low pitch or in a sentimental manner; specifically, to sing a popular song in a low, mellow voice.

   She was crooning, but I couldn’t make out what the song was.

   2 more examples

   But hark! the robin takes up the strain. […] Thou art a type of the true poet, even of him who "crooneth to himsel" amid poverty, and want, and toil. Other birds require the sunshine and the flower to wake their musical utterances, but the drifting flake and the arrowy hail stay not thy song.

   1856, Hugh M‘Donald, “No. XX.—Kirkintilloch and Campsie.”, in Rambles round Glasgow, Descriptive, Historical, and Traditional, 2nd edition, Glasgow: Thomas Murray and Son, →OCLC, page 390

   "You, my sweet boy," she croons. "How much you still owe me?" […] "Be happy I ain't charging interest like how the man and all his bug-a-boos do," she croons on. "Just gimme a twenty. You got a dub or not?"

   2006, Bayo Ojikutu, Free Burning […], New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 306

   Synonyms: coo

4. Northern EnglandScotlandintransitiveTo lament, to moan.
5. Northern EnglandScotlandintransitiveTo make a continuous hollow low-pitched moan, as of cattle; to bellow, to low.

   Novv Clinkumbell, vvi' rattlin tovv, / Begins to jovv an' croon; […]

   1786, Robert Burns, “The Holy Fair”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, stanza XXVI, page 51

   3 more examples

   Even the dull cattle crooned and gazed, / And murmured and looked with anxious pain / For something the mystery to explain.

   1813 January 30, James Hogg, “Night the Second. Kilmeny. The Thirteenth Bard’s Song.”, in The Queen’s Wake: A Legendary Poem, Edinburgh: George Goldie, […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 192

   'Thou hear'st that lordly Bull of mine, / Neighbour,' quoth Brunskill then; / 'How loudly to the hills he crunes, / That crune to him again.[']

   1838, Robert Southey, “Brough Bells”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Southey. […], volume VI, London: […] [Andrew Spottiswoode] for Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, […], published 1838, →OCLC, page 227

   Above the marge of night a star still shines, / And on the frosty hills the sombre pines / Harbor an eerie wind that crooneth low / Over the glimmering wastes of virgin snow.

   1916, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “[Songs of the Hills and Woods.] A Winter Dawn.”, in The Watchman and Other Poems, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 85

6. Northern EnglandScotlandintransitiveOf a large bell: to make a low-pitched sound.

plural croons

1. A soft, low-pitched sound; specifically, a soft or sentimental hum, song, or tune.

   From away out in the darkness came a haunting croon from the lubras and children.

   1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 72

   3 more examples

   O, a’ ye Bards on bonie Doon! / An’ vvha on Ayr your chanters tune! / Come, join the melancholious croon / O’ Robin’s reed! / His heart vvill never get aboon! / His Mailie’s dead!

   1793, Robert Burns, “Poor Mailie’s Elegy”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 115

   Bitterly she cried as she thought over the old hag's croon:— / "Quick joy, long pain, / You will take your gift again."

   1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “How Hereward Turned Berserker”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 249

   And really, Michael Jackson is a more fitting aspiration for the similarly sexless would-be-former teen heartthrob, who’s compared himself to the late King Of Pop (perhaps a bit prematurely) on several occasions and sings in a Jackson-like croon over a sample of “We’ve Got A Good Thing Going” on Believe’s “Die In Your Arms.”

   2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020

2. Northern EnglandScotlandA continuous hollow low-pitched moan, as of cattle; a bellow.

   The bittern mounts the morning air; / And rings the sky with quavering croon; […]

   1813 January 30, James Hogg, “Night the Third. Mary Scott. The Fourteenth Bard’s Song.”, in The Queen’s Wake: A Legendary Poem, Edinburgh: George Goldie, […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 216

   1 more example

   Amang the brachens, on the brae, / Betvveen her an' the moon, / The Deil, or elſe an outler Quey, / Gat up an' gae a croon: […]

   1785 (date written), Robert Burns, “Halloween”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, stanza XXVI, page 191

3. Northern EnglandScotlandThe low-pitched sound of a large bell.