humming

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of hum

comparative more humming · superlative most humming

1. Making a hum sound.
2. archaicOf ale or beer: very strong.

   But at night crowds of visitors called at his cot, / For he told a right marvellous tale; / Yet a stronger attraction by chance he had got, / A barrel of old humming ale.

   1889, John Bickerdyke, The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: An Entertaining History, page 13

3. UKslangVery bad-smelling.

plural hummings

1. The sound of something that hums; a hum.

   There are some contemporary additions to these scattered fragments from Shakespeare. Mostly they are songs; sometimes they are various screechings and hummings[…]

   1969 December 8, New York Magazine, volume 2, number 49, page 70

   Synonyms: bombination, buzz, buzzing, drone, droning, hum, thrum, thrumming