croon
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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-West Germanic *kraunijan, 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”)
Inflected forms:
form: croons
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: crooning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: croon
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: croon
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: croon
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: croonest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: croonedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: croons
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: crooneth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: croon
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: croon
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: croon
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: crooning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: crooned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: croons
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To hum or sing (a song or tune), or to speak (words), softly in a low pitch or in a sentimental manner; specifically, to sing (a popular song) in a low, mellow voice.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He was crooning a song.
Tam ſkelpit on thro' dub and mire, / Deſpiſing vvind, and rain, and fire; / VVhiles holding faſt his gude blue bonnet; / VVhiles crooning o'er ſome auld Scots ſonnet; […]
So they went, toiling up [the staircase]; she singing all the way, and Paul sometimes crooning out a feeble accompaniment.
[A]ny other woman would have been melted to marrow at hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise.
Thou croonest thy wild death-song o'er the world; / Serene Futurity thou dost conceal; / Thy banner is the shroud, the pall unfurled / Above mankind; […]
By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon, / To my honey I'll croon love's tune, […]
gloss: To soothe (a person or an animal) by singing softly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [I]n his ill-remembered prayer, and in the fragment of the childish hymn with which he sung and crooned himself asleep, there breathed as true a spirit as ever studied homily expressed, or old cathedral arches echoed.
“But, you know, crooners gonna croon.”
gloss: To hum or sing, or to speak, softly in a low pitch or in a sentimental manner; specifically, to sing a popular song in a low, mellow voice.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: She was crooning, but I couldn’t make out what the song was.
But hark! the robin takes up the strain. […] Thou art a type of the true poet, even of him who "crooneth to himsel" amid poverty, and want, and toil. Other birds require the sunshine and the flower to wake their musical utterances, but the drifting flake and the arrowy hail stay not thy song.
"You, my sweet boy," she croons. "How much you still owe me?" […] "Be happy I ain't charging interest like how the man and all his bug-a-boos do," she croons on. "Just gimme a twenty. You got a dub or not?"
gloss: To lament, to moan.
pos: verb
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
intransitive
gloss: To make a continuous hollow low-pitched moan, as of cattle; to bellow, to low.
pos: verb
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
intransitive
examples: Novv Clinkumbell, vvi' rattlin tovv, / Begins to jovv an' croon; […]
Even the dull cattle crooned and gazed, / And murmured and looked with anxious pain / For something the mystery to explain.
'Thou hear'st that lordly Bull of mine, / Neighbour,' quoth Brunskill then; / 'How loudly to the hills he crunes, / That crune to him again.[']
Above the marge of night a star still shines, / And on the frosty hills the sombre pines / Harbor an eerie wind that crooneth low / Over the glimmering wastes of virgin snow.
gloss: Of a large bell: to make a low-pitched sound.
pos: verb
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
intransitive
gloss: A soft, low-pitched sound; specifically, a soft or sentimental hum, song, or tune.
pos: noun
examples: 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!
Bitterly she cried as she thought over the old hag's croon:— / "Quick joy, long pain, / You will take your gift again."
From away out in the darkness came a haunting croon from the lubras and children.
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.”
gloss: A continuous hollow low-pitched moan, as of cattle; a bellow.
pos: noun
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
examples: Amang the brachens, on the brae, / Betvveen her an' the moon, / The Deil, or elſe an outler Quey, / Gat up an' gae a croon: […]
The bittern mounts the morning air; / And rings the sky with quavering croon; […]
gloss: The low-pitched sound of a large bell.
pos: noun
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
Derived words: crooner
crooning
crooningly
croony
Translations:
lang: Azerbaijani
word: zümzümə etmək
lang: Bulgarian
word: напявам
roman: napjavam
lang: Bulgarian
word: танани́кам
roman: tananíkam
lang: Catalan
word: entonar
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 低唱
roman: dīchàng
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 哼
roman: hēng
lang: Czech
word: broukat si
lang: Czech
word: pobrukovat si
lang: Czech
word: tiše zpívat
lang: Dutch
word: neuriën
lang: Finnish
word: hyräillä
lang: Galician
word: cantaruxar
lang: German
word: säuseln
lang: German
word: summen
lang: Hungarian
word: dúdol
lang: Macedonian
word: по́тпевне
roman: pótpevne
lang: Polish
word: nucić
lang: Polish
word: zanucić
lang: Russian
word: напева́ть
roman: napevátʹ
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: пјеву́шити
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: pjevúšiti
lang: Spanish
word: canturrear
lang: Vietnamese
word: ngâm nga