HUMOUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does humour mean? 

• HUMOUR (noun)
  The noun HUMOUR has 6 senses:

1. a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling

2. a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter

3. (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state

4. the liquid parts of the body

5. the quality of being funny

6. the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous

  Familiarity information: HUMOUR used as a noun is common.

• HUMOUR (verb)
  The verb HUMOUR has 1 sense:

1. put into a good mood

  Familiarity information: HUMOUR used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HUMOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

humor; humour; mood; temper

Context example:

he was in a bad humor

Hypernyms ("humour" is a kind of...):

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humour"):

peeve (an annoyed or irritated mood)

sulk; sulkiness (a mood or display of sullen aloofness or withdrawal)

amiability; good humor; good humour; good temper (a cheerful and agreeable mood)

distemper; ill humor; ill humour (an angry and disagreeable mood)

Derivation:

humour (put into a good mood)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

humor; humour; wit; witticism; wittiness

Hypernyms ("humour" is a kind of...):

content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)

Domain member category:

couth ((used facetiously) refinement)

couth ((used facetiously) refined and well-mannered)

Domain member usage:

libation ((facetious) a serving of an alcoholic beverage)

roaster (a harsh or humorous critic (sometimes intended as a facetious compliment))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humour"):

topper (an exceedingly good witticism that surpasses all that have gone before)

ribaldry (ribald humor)

esprit de l'escalier (a witty remark that occurs to you too late)

fun; play; sport (verbal wit or mockery (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously))

cartoon; sketch (a humorous or satirical drawing published in a newspaper or magazine)

caricature; imitation; impersonation (a representation of a person that is exaggerated for comic effect)

gag; jape; jest; joke; laugh (a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter)

repartee (adroitness and cleverness in reply)

caustic remark; irony; sarcasm; satire (witty language used to convey insults or scorn)

bite; pungency (wit having a sharp and caustic quality)

bon mot; mot (a clever remark)

jeu d'esprit (a witty comment or writing)

Derivation:

humourist (someone who acts speaks or writes in an amusing way)

humourous (full of or characterized by humor)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

humor; humour

Context example:

the humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile

Hypernyms ("humour" is a kind of...):

body substance (the substance of the body)

Domain category:

antiquity (the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe)

Dark Ages; Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)

physiology (the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning of organisms)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The liquid parts of the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

bodily fluid; body fluid; humor; humour; liquid body substance

Hypernyms ("humour" is a kind of...):

body substance (the substance of the body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humour"):

aqueous humor; aqueous humour (the limpid fluid within the eyeball between the cornea and the lens)

cerebrospinal fluid; spinal fluid (clear liquid produced in the ventricles of the brain; fills and protects cavities in the brain and spinal cord)

festering; ichor; purulence; pus; sanies; suppuration (a fluid product of inflammation)

lochia (substance discharged from the vagina (cellular debris and mucus and blood) that gradually decreases in amount during the weeks following childbirth)

choler; yellow bile (a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the liver and to cause irritability and anger)

black bile; melancholy (a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy)

secretion (a functionally specialized substance (especially one that is not a waste) released from a gland or cell)

ink (dark protective fluid ejected into the water by cuttlefish and other cephalopods)

come; cum; ejaculate; seed; semen; seminal fluid (the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract)

lymph (a thin coagulable fluid (similar to plasma but) containing white blood cells (lymphocytes) and chyle; is conveyed to the blood stream by lymphatic vessels)

chyle (a milky fluid consisting of lymph and emulsified fats; formed in the small intestine during digestion of ingested fats)

blood (the fluid (red in vertebrates) that is pumped through the body by the heart and contains plasma, blood cells, and platelets)

blood serum; serum (an amber, watery fluid, rich in proteins, that separates out when blood coagulates)

vitreous body; vitreous humor; vitreous humour (the clear colorless transparent jelly that fills the posterior chamber of the eyeball)

endolymph (the bodily fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear)

perilymph (the bodily fluid that fills the space between the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear)

ECF; extracellular fluid (liquid containing proteins and electrolytes including the liquid in blood plasma and interstitial fluid)

intracellular fluid (liquid contained inside the cell membranes (usually containing dissolved solutes))

juice; succus (any of several liquids of the body)

karyolymph (a clear liquid in the cell nucleus in which the nucleolus and chromatin and other structures are dispersed)

milk (produced by mammary glands of female mammals for feeding their young)

amnionic fluid; amniotic fluid; waters (the serous fluid in which the embryo is suspended inside the amnion)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The quality of being funny

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

humor; humour

Context example:

I fail to see the humor in it

Hypernyms ("humour" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humour"):

comicality (the quality of being comical)

Derivation:

humourist (someone who acts speaks or writes in an amusing way)

humourous (full of or characterized by humor)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

humor; humour; sense of humor; sense of humour

Context example:

you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor

Hypernyms ("humour" is a kind of...):

fun; playfulness (a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement)

Derivation:

humourist (someone who acts speaks or writes in an amusing way)

humourous (full of or characterized by humor)

• HUMOUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they humour    ... he / she / it humours   
Past simple: humoured   
Past participle: humoured   
-ing form: humouring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put into a good mood

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

humor; humour

Hypernyms (to "humour" is one way to...):

gratify; indulge; pander (yield (to); give satisfaction to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

humour (a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling)

 Context examples 

It was no wonder the men were in a good humour now.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

For then his brother's bow must have given the finishing stroke to what the ill-humour of his mother and sister would have begun.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

And you have never any odd humours, my dear.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"How do you mean, ask them questions?" I queried, wishful to get him into a talkative humour.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was a singular spot, and one peculiarly well suited to the grim humour of my patient.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Excellent,” said he, recovering his good-humour.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mrs Smith gave a most good-humoured acquiescence.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Adaptive styles of humour include affiliative humour, which is aimed at strengthening social relationships.

(Self-defeating humour promotes psychological well-being, University of Granada)

You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to refuse him anything that he might ask.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Good-humoured, unaffected girls will not do for a man who has been used to sensible women.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)