Adjacent Words

humour definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling; "whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time"; "he was in a bad humor" [syn: temper, mood, humor, humour]
2: a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter [syn: wit, humor, humour, witticism, wittiness]
3: (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state; "the humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile" [syn: humor, humour]
4: the liquid parts of the body [syn: liquid body substance, bodily fluid, body fluid, humor, humour]
5: the quality of being funny; "I fail to see the humor in it" [syn: humor, humour]
6: the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" [syn: humor, humour, sense of humor, sense of humour] v
1: put into a good mood [syn: humor, humour]

Merriam Webster's

chiefly British variant of humor

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. (US humor) --n. 1 a the condition of being amusing or comic (less intellectual and more sympathetic than wit). b the expression of humour in literature, speech, etc. 2 (in full sense of humour) the ability to perceive or express humour or take a joke. 3 a mood or state of mind (bad humour). 4 an inclination or whim (in the humour for fighting). 5 (in full cardinal humour) hist. each of the four chief fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, choler, melancholy), thought to determine a person's physical and mental qualities. --v.tr. 1 gratify or indulge (a person or taste etc.). 2 adapt oneself to; make concessions to. Phrases and idioms: out of humour displeased. Derivatives: -humoured adj. humourless adj. humourlessly adv. humourlessness n. Etymology: ME f. AF umour, humour, OF umor, humor f. L humor moisture (as HUMID)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Humor Hu"mor, n. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.] [Written also humour.] 1. Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. Note: The ancient physicians believed that there were four humors (the blood, phlegm, yellow bile or choler, and black bile or melancholy), on the relative proportion of which the temperament and health depended. 2. (Med.) A vitiated or morbid animal fluid, such as often causes an eruption on the skin. ``A body full of humors.'' --Sir W. Temple. 3. State of mind, whether habitual or temporary (as formerly supposed to depend on the character or combination of the fluids of the body); disposition; temper; mood; as, good humor; ill humor. Examine how your humor is inclined, And which the ruling passion of your mind. --Roscommon. A prince of a pleasant humor. --Bacon. I like not the humor of lying. --Shak. 4. pl. Changing and uncertain states of mind; caprices; freaks; vagaries; whims. Is my friend all perfection, all virtue and discretion? Has he not humors to be endured? --South. 5. That quality of the imagination which gives to ideas an incongruous or fantastic turn, and tends to excite laughter or mirth by ludicrous images or representations; a playful fancy; facetiousness. For thy sake I admit That a Scot may have humor, I'd almost said wit. --Goldsmith. A great deal of excellent humor was expended on the perplexities of mine host. --W. Irving. Aqueous humor, Crystalline humor or lens, Vitreous humor. (Anat.) See Eye. Out of humor, dissatisfied; displeased; in an unpleasant frame of mind. Syn: Wit; satire; pleasantry; temper; disposition; mood; frame; whim; fancy; caprice. See Wit.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(humours, humouring, humoured) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. Note: in AM, use 'humor' 1. You can refer to the amusing things that people say as their humour. Her humour and determination were a source of inspiration to others. N-UNCOUNT: supp N see also sense of humour 2. Humour is a quality in something that makes you laugh, for example in a situation, in someone's words or actions, or in a book or film. She felt sorry for the man but couldn't ignore the humour of the situation. 3. If you are in a good humour, you feel cheerful and happy, and are pleasant to people. If you are in a bad humour, you feel bad-tempered and unhappy, and are unpleasant to people. Christina was still not clear why he had been in such ill humour... = temper N-VAR: supp N 4. If you do something with good humour, you do it cheerfully and pleasantly. Hugo bore his illness with great courage and good humour. N-UNCOUNT: adj N 5. If you humour someone who is behaving strangely, you try to please them or pretend to agree with them, so that they will not become upset. She disliked Dido but was prepared to tolerate her for a weekend in order to humour her husband. VERB: V n