Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Chiefly British Variant of humor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. etc. See humor, etc.
Wiktionary
- n. Moist vapour, moisture.
- n. Any of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body.
- n. Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour.
- n. One's state of mind or disposition; one's mood.
- n. The quality in events, speech or writing which is seen as funny, or creates amusement, such as a joke, satire, parody, etc.
- v. To pacify by indulging.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. same as humor.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
- v. put into a good mood
- n. the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous
- n. (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state
- n. a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
- n. the liquid parts of the body
- n. the quality of being funny
Examples
“III. ii.439 (293,5) [to a living humour of madness] If this be the true reading we must by _living_ understand _lasting_, or _permanent_, but I cannot forbear to think that some antithesis was intended which is now lost; perhaps the passage stood thus, _I drove my suitor from a_ dying _humour of love to a living humour of madness_.”
“Or rather thus, _from a mad humour of love to a_ loving _humour of madness_, that is, from a _madness_ that was _love_, to a _love_ that was _madness_.”
“The butt of his humour is a group so ostentatiously righteous that few commentating on the Booker mentioned Jacobson's attack.”
The Guardian: Howard Jacobson offers a contrary voice in the arts
“Your humour is a refreshing rest stop on our busy highway of genealogical data.”
“Its hilarious but the humour is arrived at by making fun of the ignorance of Americans.”
“Like the people of Southern Europe, the Semite is easily managed by a jest: though grave and thoughtful, he is by no means deficient in the sly wit which we call humour, and the solemn gravity of his words contrasts amusingly with his ideas.”
“Miss Keller's humour is that deeper kind of humour which is courage.”
“Nevertheless, the essence of what we call humour is that amusing weaknesses should be combined with an amicable humanity.”
“But the deep background that lies behind and beyond what we call humour is revealed only to the few who, by instinct or by effort, have given thought to it.”
“Not getting them for a_a though, he hides behind what he calls humour but really does think he is an infanteer,”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘humour’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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English British pronunciation
Differences betwen brithish and American english spelling or pronunciation.
centre, center, fibre, fiber, litre, liter, theatre, theater, colour, color, flavour, flavor and 18 more...
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carolinacc's list
jettisoned, yearn, chrestomathy, catachresis, elation, gesundheit, ohne, tertium quid, iota, oscillation, argillous, flagrate and 67 more...
carolinacc Imagination was given to us to compensate for what we are not; a sense of humor was given to us to console us for what we are.
-Mark McGinnis Oct 15, 2008