Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of tones, sustained and sonorous, as if produced by a well-trained voice; cantabile.
  • noun The act, process, or result of uttering sounds that are musical in quality or in succession; chanting; cantillation.
  • noun The act of telling, narrating, or describing anything in verse.
  • noun A sensation as of a prolonged ringing sound in the ears or head; tinnitus aurium.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • a. & n. from sing, v.
  • (Zoöl.) Specifically, any one of the Oscines.
  • a book containing music for singing; a book of tunes.
  • (Zoöl.) See Chanting falcon, under Chanting.
  • (Zoöl.) a California toadfish (Porichthys porosissimus), called also midshipman; -- so called because it produces a buzzing sound with its air bladder.
  • (Acoustics) a flame, as of hydrogen or coal gas, burning within a tube and so adjusted as to set the air within the tube in vibration, causing sound. The apparatus is called also chemical harmonicon.
  • a man who teaches vocal music.
  • a school in which persons are instructed in singing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of using the voice to produce musical sounds; vocalizing.
  • noun informal Disclosing information, or giving evidence about another.
  • noun US A gathering for the purpose of singing shape note songs.
  • adjective music Smooth and flowing.
  • adjective of a kettle, etc. Producing a whistling sound due to the escape of steam.
  • verb Present participle of sing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of singing vocal music
  • noun disclosing information or giving evidence about another
  • adjective smooth and flowing

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word singing.

Examples

  • His dismal prolonged howl of protest at such singing effectually ended the song, and Julie called to the animal, "Wise doggy -- to be able to tell singing from _singing_!"

    Girl Scouts in the Adirondacks Lillian Elizabeth Roy 1900

  • For all true singing is of the nature of worship; as indeed all true _working_ may be said to be, -- whereof such _singing_ is but the record, and fit melodious representation, to us.

    Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History Thomas Carlyle 1838

  • Who among us truly believes that the unemployment rate -- still stuck way above 9 percent--would be so much lower if Obama had spent the first two years of his term singing lullabies to the chief executives of the Wall Street institutions that enriched themselves at the expense of taxpayers and working people, rather than occasionally seeking to hold them to account?

    Obama's Pivot: Pandering to Business Peter S. Goodman 2011

  • That's what they called the singing paddlers throughout the article, a word close enough to the English that it was recognizable, the lilt of the Italian taking you there.

    Death on the Caribbean 2008

  • Japanese chess, story-telling, and the samisen fill up the early part of the evening, but later, an agonising performance, which they call singing, begins, which sounds like the very essence of heathenishness, and consists mainly in a prolonged vibrating

    Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004

  • The sheikhs generally encamped at a little distance from us, and as they were given to nocturnal conversations and monotonous noises which they called singing, we were glad they were not too near.

    Southern Arabia Mabel Bent

  • That sound is a mere nervous sensation is further proved by the fact that we have disturbances of the auditory nerve which we call singing in the ears.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 122, December, 1867 Various

  • One thing is certain: those connections between the hearing and the motor processes we term singing or playing should be made early in life, if they are to reach that degree of facility and general excellence essential to success.

    Voice Production in Singing and Speaking Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged) Wesley Mills 1881

  • By those who have investigated the matter, this chanting is believed to have been not what we call singing, but nearly allied to our recitative

    Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library Herbert Spencer 1861

  • All people who would be kind enough to dress in strange costumes and make odd noises, which they called singing, the earl had carefully engaged, and planted in the best places for making them look still stranger than they were.

    Paul Clifford — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.