croon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹuːn/
ipa: /kɹun/
ipa: /krøn/
ipa: /krʏn/
rhymes: -uːn
Forms: form: croons
Etymology: The verb is borrowed from Scots croon (“to utter a deep, long-drawn-out sound; to utter a lament, mourn; to sing in a wailing voice, whimper, whine; to mutter or sing in an undertone, hum”) [and other forms], from Middle English cronen (“to sing or speak softly, hum, croon”) (croyn (Scotland)) [and other forms], probably from Middle Dutch crônen, krônen (“to groan, moan; to lament”) (modern Dutch kreunen (“to moan”)), or Old High German chrônan, krônen (“to babble, prattle; to chatter”), probably from Proto-Germanic *kraunijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”).
The noun is partly:
* borrowed from Scots croon (“a lament, wail; mournful song; low murmuring tune; (obsolete) long-drawn-out sound”), from croon (verb): see above; and
* derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Middle Dutch krônen (modern Dutch kreunen (“to groan, moan; to lament”))
* Middle Low German kroenen (“to babble, prattle; to chatter”), kronen (“to growl; to grumble; to scold”)
* Old High German chrônan, chrônnan (“to babble, prattle; to chatter”)
* Saterland Frisian krȫnen (“to cause to weep”)
Senses: examples: text: 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!
ref: 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:
text: Bitterly she cried as she thought over the old hag's croon:— / "Quick joy, long pain, / You will take your gift again."
ref: 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:
text: From away out in the darkness came a haunting croon from the lubras and children.
ref: 1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 72:
text: 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.”
ref: 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020:
glosses: A soft, low-pitched sound; specifically, a soft or sentimental hum, song, or tune.
examples: text: Amang the brachens, on the brae, / Betvveen her an' the moon, / The Deil, or elſe an outler Quey, / Gat up an' gae a croon: […]
ref: 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:
text: The bittern mounts the morning air; / And rings the sky with quavering croon; […]
ref: 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:
glosses: A continuous hollow low-pitched moan, as of cattle; a bellow.
glosses: The low-pitched sound of a large bell.
Derived terms: croony