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Sing

//sɪŋ// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A surname from English [in turn originating as an occupation].
2
A surname from Chinese.
3
Alternative spelling of Singh A South Asian surname. alt-of, alternative
"For quotations using this term, see Citations:Sing."
4
Alternative spelling of Singh A South Asian surname.; a Sikh surname

Noun

1
The act, or event, of singing songs.
"I sometimes have a quick sing in the shower."

Verb

1
To produce musical or harmonious sounds with one’s voice. intransitive
""I really want to sing in the school choir," said Vera."
2
divulge confidential information or secrets wordnet
3
To perform a vocal part in a musical composition, regardless of technique. intransitive
4
make a whining, ringing, or whistling sound wordnet
5
To express audibly by means of a harmonious vocalization. transitive
"sing a lullaby"

Show 13 more definitions

6
to make melodious sounds wordnet
7
To soothe with singing. transitive
"to sing somebody to sleep"
8
produce tones with the voice wordnet
9
Of birds, to vocalise:; To produce a 'song', for the purposes of defending a breeding territory or to attract a mate. ambitransitive
10
deliver by singing wordnet
11
Of birds, to vocalise:; To produce any type of melodious vocalisation. ambitransitive, literary
"⁠I do but sing because I must, And pipe but as the linnets sing: And unto one her note is gay, ⁠For now her little ones have ranged; ⁠And unto one her note is changed, Because her brood is stol’n away."
12
To confess under interrogation. intransitive, slang
13
To make a small, shrill sound. intransitive
"The air sings in passing through a crevice."
14
To relate in verse; to celebrate in poetry.
"Again I bid the mournful Goddeſs write / The fond Purſuit of fugitive Delight: / Bid her exalt her melancholy Wing, / And rais'd from Earth, and ſav'd from Paſſion, ſing / Of human Hope by croſs Event deſtroyed, / Of uſeleſs Wealth, and Greatneſs unenjoy'd, […]"
15
To display fine qualities; to stand out as excellent. intransitive
"The sauce really makes this lamb sing."
16
To be capable of being sung; to produce a certain effect by being sung. ergative
"No song sings well unless it is open-vowelled, and has the rhythmic stress on the vowels. Tennyson's songs, for instance, are not generally adapted to music."
17
In traditional Aboriginal culture, to direct a supernatural influence on (a person or thing), usually malign; to curse. Australia
"‘We sung them two real good. We never give Louis Beck no place to find rest from his torment.’"
18
To yell or shout. archaic, slang
"I took my flogging like a stone. If I had sung, some of the convicts would have given me some lush with a locust in it (laudanum hocussing), and when I was asleep would have given me a crack on the head that would have laid me straight."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English singen, from Old English singan (“to sing”), from Proto-West Germanic *singwan, from Proto-Germanic *singwaną (“to sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ- (“to recite, sing”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian sjunge (“to sing”), West Frisian sjonge (“to sing”), Dutch zingen (“to sing”), German Low German singen (“to sing”), German singen (“to sing”), Danish synge (“to sing”), Swedish sjunga (“to sing”), Icelandic syngja (“to sing”), Ancient Greek ὀμφή (omphḗ, “voice, oracle”).

Etymology 2

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