buzz
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: bŭz
ipa: /bʌz/
rhymes: -ʌz
Forms: form: buzzes
form: buzzing
form: buzzed
form: buzzed
Etymology: From Middle English *bussen (suggested by Middle English bussyng (“buzzing”)), of onomatopoeic origin. Cognate with Scots bizz (“to buzz”). Compare Middle English bunning (“buzzing”), Middle English hossing (“buzzing”), Middle English bissen (“to hush”).
Senses: examples: text: Ah! the singing, fatal arrow, / Like a wasp it buzzed, and stung him [a roebuck]!
ref: 1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Hiawatha’s Childhood”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 47:
text: So that now the universe has escaped from the pin which was pushed through it, like an impaled fly vainly buzzing: now that the multiple universe flies its own complicated course quite free, and hasn't got any hub, we can hope also to escape.
ref: 1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Holy Family”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 14:
glosses: To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings.
examples: text: However these disturbers of our peace / Buzz in the people's ears.
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
glosses: To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings.
To utter a murmuring sound; to speak with a low, humming voice.
examples: text: But I tell you this has set all London buzzing. The old man is where he likes to be, with a pin-point limelight right on his hairy old head.
ref: 1928 February 25 – March 3, Arthur Conan Doyle, “When the World Screamed”, in The Professor Challenger Stories […], London: John Murray, […], published [1952], →OCLC, page 570:
glosses: To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings.
Of a group of people, to talk about some interesting topic excitedly.
examples: text: A fly was buzzing past me.
text: The flies, lethargic with the autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room.
ref: 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter XX, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
glosses: To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings.
To fly while making such a sound.
raw_tags: of an insect
glosses: To show a high level of activity and haste, energization or excitement, to be busy as a bee in one’s actions but perhaps mentally charged.
examples: text: I will buzz abroad such prophecies / That Edward shall be fearful of his life.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]:
glosses: To whisper; to communicate, as tales, in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly.
glosses: To talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice.
examples: text: […] an asteroid a mere 15-20 metres across exploded with the force of a medium-sized atom bomb over Chelyabinsk, in Russia, and another, much larger one buzzed Earth a few hours later.
ref: 2013, The Economist, Stopping asteroid strikes: Defenders of the Earth:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To fly at high speed and at a very low altitude over a specified area, as to make a surprise pass.
examples: text: Deacon said, “You used to beg me to let you buzz your hair when you were little.” “And then I grew up and realized how awful you looked when you buzzed yours.”
ref: 2012, Ellen Hartman, Out of Bounds, page 130:
glosses: To cut (the hair) in a close-cropped military style, or buzzcut.
examples: text: I have mentioned her deft hand with a stone — well, as soon as our backs were turned she buzzed a stone to clip Joe's ear.
ref: 2013, Felix Gilman, The Rise of Ransom City:
glosses: To throw swiftly.
examples: text: He buzzed the bottle with such a hearty good will as settled the fate of another, which Soapey rang for as a matter of course. There was but the rejected one, which however Spigot put into a different decanter and brought in […]
ref: 1849, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register:
glosses: To drink to the bottom.
examples: text: Then one day my secretary buzzed me and said Frank Sinatra was on the phone. When I picked up the phone it was the Chief who played dumb and would not admit that he said he was Frank Sinatra.
ref: 2012, Steven Joseph Sinopoli, The Seventh House, page 66:
glosses: To communicate with (a person) by means of a buzzer.
Derived terms: abuzz
bizz-buzz
buzz about
buzzbait
buzz bar
buzz bomb
buzz-bomb
buzz button
buzz cut
buzzie
buzz in
buzzin' dozen
buzzkill
buzzle
buzzless
buzzlike
buzz off
buzz-phrase
buzz pollination
buzz-saw
buzz saw
buzzsaw
buzz score
buzz session
buzzstorm
buzz track
buzz up
buzzword
buzz-word
buzz word
buzzworm
buzzworthy
buzzy
catch a buzz
fizz-buzz
give someone a buzz
glacial buzz saw
love buzz
outbuzz