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humour

Pronunciation: /ˈhjuːmə/
(US humor)
Translate humour | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of humour

noun

[mass noun]
  • 1the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech:his tales are full of humour
  • the ability to express humour or amuse other people:their inimitable brand of humour
  • 2a mood or state of mind:her good humour vanished the clash hadn’t improved his humour
  • [count noun] archaic an inclination or whim: and have you really burnt all your Plays to please a Humour?
  • 3 (also cardinal humour) [count noun] historical each of the four chief fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy)) that were thought to determine a person’s physical and mental qualities by the relative proportions in which they were present.

verb

[with object]
  • comply with the wishes of (someone) in order to keep them content, however unreasonable such wishes might be:she was always humouring him to prevent trouble
  • archaic adapt or accommodate oneself to (something): in reading this stanza we ought to humour it with a corresponding tone of voice

Phrases

out of humour

in a bad mood.

sense of humour

a person’s ability to appreciate humour:in all the ups and downs of his life he never lost his sense of humour

Origin:

Middle English: via Old French from Latin humor 'moisture', from humere (see humid). The original sense was 'bodily fluid' (surviving in aqueous humour and vitreous humour); it was used specifically for any of the cardinal humours (humour (sense 3 of the noun)), whence 'mental disposition' (thought to be caused by the relative proportions of the humours). This led, in the 16th century, to the senses 'mood' (humour (sense 2 of the noun)) and 'whim', hence to humour someone 'to indulge a person's whim'. humour (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the late 16th century

Spelling help

Remember that humour ends with -our (the spelling humor is American).

humour in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of humour in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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