buzz - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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”).

buzz (countable and uncountable, plural buzzes)

The buzz of an electronic alarm clock

  1. A continuous humming noise, as of bees; a confused murmur, as of general conversation in low tones.
    • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 289:
      Immediately there was a ringing and a singing in the hills, and then a whispering and a lisping and a whiz and a buzz all about him, for the little people were now some whirling round and round in the dance, and others sporting and tumbling about in the moonshine, and playing a thousand merry pranks and tricks.
    • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 209:
      In the steady buzz of flies the homeward-bound agent was lying flushed and insensible[.]
    • 2012, Ripley's Believe It Or Not! (compiler), Ripley's Unbelievable Stories For Guys:
      This probably explains the interest in UVB-76, or “The Buzzer,” a mysterious shortwave radio station that has been operating since 1982 and whose output consists of a monotonous buzz repeated 24 hours a day, occasionally interrupted by a Russian voice.
  2. A whisper.
  3. The audible friction of voiced consonants.
  4. (informal) A rush or feeling of energy or excitement; a feeling of slight intoxication.
    Still feeling the buzz from the coffee, he pushed through the last of the homework.
  5. (informal) A telephone call or e-mail.
    • 1983 April 9, “Clearly Womyn's Space (classified advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 15:
      Now, don't waste time, give us a buzz -- quick! 825-4703 or 265-7881.
  6. (informal) Major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes.
    • 1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone):
      Mr. Hall? The buzz on Christian is that his parents have joint custody, so he'll be spending one semester in Chicago and one semester here.
    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 103:
      I wasn't performing with Pimp and Smoove that much no more, but I had a solo deal with Ruthless Rap and a brand new mixtape that was creating a big buzz.
    • 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):
      Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Who's he?
      Patrick: He's only the most popular kid in school.
      Allen Gregory: Ah, the two heavyweights finally meet. Sure you're tired of all the buzz. Allen Gregory DeLongpre.
      Joel Zadak: Joel...Zadak!
  7. (uncountable) Synonym of fizz-buzz (“counting game”).

continuous humming noise

rush of feeling of energy or excitement

informal: telephone call

information spread behind the scenes

Translations to be checked

buzz (third-person singular simple present buzzes, present participle buzzing, simple past and past participle buzzed)

  1. (intransitive) To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings.
    • 1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Hiawatha’s Childhood”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 47:
      Ah! the singing, fatal arrow, / Like a wasp it buzzed, and stung him [a roebuck]!
    • 1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Holy Family”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 14:
      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.
    1. (by extension) To utter a murmuring sound; to speak with a low, humming voice.
    2. Of a group of people, to talk about some interesting topic excitedly.
    3. (chiefly of an insect) To fly while making such a sound.
      A fly was buzzing past me.
  2. (colloquial) 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.
  3. (transitive) To whisper; to communicate, as tales, in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly.
  4. (transitive) To talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice.
  5. (transitive, aviation, also figuratively) To fly at high speed and at a very low altitude over (an area), as to make a surprise pass.
    • 2013, The Economist, Stopping asteroid strikes: Defenders of the Earth‎[1]:
      […] 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.
  6. (transitive) To cut (the hair) in a close-cropped military style, or buzzcut.
    • 2012, Ellen Hartman, Out of Bounds, page 130:
      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.”
  7. (transitive) To throw swiftly.
    • 2013, Felix Gilman, The Rise of Ransom City:
      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.
  8. (archaic, transitive) To drink to the bottom.
    • 1849, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register:
      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 […]
  9. (transitive) To communicate with (a person) by means of a buzzer.
    • 2012, Steven Joseph Sinopoli, The Seventh House, page 66:
      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.

to make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound

to show a high level of activity and haste

to communicate, as tales, in an undertone

to talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice

aviation: to fly at high speed and at a low altitude

to cut the hair in a close-cropped style

to communicate by means of a buzzer

Borrowed from English buzz.

buzz m (uncountable)

  1. buzz (excitement)