Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

HUMANATE — HURRY

HUMANATE, a. Endued with humanity.

HUMANE, a. [supra.] Having the feelings and dispositions proper to man; having tenderness, compassion, and a disposition to treat others with kindness; particularly in relieving them when in distress, or in captivity, when they are helpless or defenseless; kind; benevolent.

1. Inclined to treat the lower orders of animals with tenderness.

HUMANELY, adv. With kindness, tenderness or compassion; as, the prisoners were treated humanely.

1. In a humane manner; with kind feelings.

HUMANENESS, n. Tenderness.

HUMANIST, n. A professor of grammar and rhetoric; a philologist; a term used in the universities of Scotland.

1. One versed in the knowledge of human nature.

HUMANITY, n. [L. humanitas.]

1. The peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other beings. Thus Christ, by his incarnation, was invested with humanity.

2. Mankind collectively; the human race.

If he is able to untie those knots, he is able to teach all humanity.

It is a debt we owe to humanity.

3. The kind feelings, dispositions and sympathies of man, by which he is distinguished from the lower orders of animals; kindness; benevolence; especially, a disposition to relieve persons in distress, and to treat with tenderness those who are helpless and defenseless; opposed to cruelty.

4. A disposition to treat the lower orders of animals with tenderness, or at least to give them no unnecessary pain.

5. The exercise of kindness; acts of tenderness.

6. Philology; grammatical studies.

Humanities, in the plural, signifies grammar, rhetoric and poetry; for teaching which there are professors in the universities of Scotland.

HUMANIZATION, n. The act of humanizing.

HUMANIZE, v.t. To soften; to render humane; to subdue dispositions to cruelty, and render susceptible of kind feelings.

Was it the business of magic to humanize our natures?

HUMANIZED, pp. softened; rendered humane.

HUMANIZING, ppr. Softening; subduing cruel dispositions.

HUMANKIND, n. The race of man; mankind; the human species.

HUMANLY, adv. After the manner of men; according to the opinions or knowledge of men. The present prospects, humanly speaking, promise a happy issue.

1. Kingly; humanely.

HUMATION, n. Interment. [Not used.]

HUMBIRD, HUMMING-BIRD, n. A very small bird of the genus Trochilus; so called from the sound of its wings in flight. The rostrum is subulate, filiform, and longer than the head; the tongue is filiform and tubulous. It never lights to take food, but feeds while on the wing.

HUMBLE, a. [L. humilis.]

1. Low; opposed to high or lofty.

Thy humble nest built on the ground.

2. Low; opposed to lofty or great; mean; not magnificent; as a humble cottage.

A humble roof, and an obscure retreat.

3. Lowly; modest; meek; submissive; opposed to proud, haughty, arrogant or assuming. In an evangelical sense, having a low opinion of one’s self, and a deep sense of unworthiness in the sight of God.

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. James 4:6.

Without a humble imitation of the divine author of our blessed religion, we can never hope to be a happy nation.

HUMBLE, v.t. To abase; to reduce to a low state. This victory humbled the pride of Rome. The power of Rome was humbled, but not subdued.

1. To crush; to break; to subdue. The battle of Waterloo humbled the power of Buonaparte.

2. To mortify.

3. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride of; to reduce arrogance and self-dependence; to give a low opinion of one’s moral worth; to make meek and submissive to the divine will; the evangelical sense.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. 1 Peter 5:6.

Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart. 2 Chronicles 32:26.

4. To make to condescend.

He humbles himself to speak to them.

5. To bring down; to lower; to reduce.

The highest mountains may be humbled into valleys.

6. To deprive of chastity. Deuteronomy 21:14.

To humble one’s self, to repent; to afflict one’s self for sin; to make contrite.

HUMBLEBEE, n. [L. bombus, a buzzing.]

A bee of a large species, that draws its food chiefly from clover flowers.

HUMBLED, pp. Made low; abased; rendered meek and submissive; penitent.

HUMBLEMOUTHED, a. Mild; meek; modest.

HUMBLENESS, n. The state of being humble or low; humility; meekness.

HUMBLEPLANT, n. A species of sensitive plant.

HUMBLER, n. He or that which humbles; he that reduces pride or mortifies.

HUMBLES, UMBLES, n. Entrails of a deer.

HUMBLY, adv. In a humble manner; with modest submissiveness; with humility.

Hope humbly the, with trembling pinions soar,

Wait the great teacher, death, and God adore.

1. In a low state or condition; without elevation.

HUMBOLDITE, n. [from Humbold.] A rare mineral recently described, occurring in small crystals, nearly colorless and transparent, or of a yellowish tinge and translucent; rarely separate, but usually aggregated; their primary form, an oblique rhombic prism.

HUMBUG, n. An imposition.

HUMDRUM, a. Dull; stupid.

HUMDRUM, n. A stupid fellow; a drone.

HUMECT, HUMECTATE, v.t. [L. humecto, from humeo, to be moist.]

To moisten; to wet; to water. [Little used.]

HUMECTATION, n. The act of moistening, wetting or watering. [Little used.]

HUMECTIVE, a. Having the power to moisten.

HUMERAL, a. [L. humerus, the shoulder.]

Belonging to the shoulder; as the humeral artery.

HUMHUM, n. A kind of plain, coarse India cloth, made of cotton.

HUMICUBATION, n. [L. humus, the ground, and cubo, to lie.]

A lying on the ground. [Little used.]

HUMID, a. [L. humidus, from humeo, to be moist.]

1. Moist; damp; containing sensible moisture; as a humid air or atmosphere.

2. Somewhat wet or watery; as humid earth.

HUMIDITY, n. Moisture; dampness; a moderate degree of wetness which is perceptible to the eye or touch, occasioned by the absorption of a fluid, or its adherence to the surface of a body. When a cloth has imbibed any fluid to such a degree that it can be felt, we call it humid; but when no humidity is perceptible, we say it is dry. Quicksilver communicates no humidity to our hands or clothes, for it does not adhere to them; but it will adhere to gold, tin and lead, and render them humid and soft to the touch.

1. Moisture in the form of visible vapor, or perceptible in the air.

HUMIDNESS, n. Humidity.

HUMILIATE, v.t. [L. humilio.] To humble; to lower in condition; to depress; as humiliated slaves.

HUMILIATED, pp. Humbled; depressed; degraded.

HUMILIATING, ppr. Humbling; depressing.

1. Abating pride; reducing self-confidence; mortifying.

HUMILIATION, n. The act of humbling; the state of being humbled.

1. Descent from an elevated state or rank to one that is low or humble.

The former was a humiliation of deity; the latter, a humiliation of manhood.

2. The act of abasing pride; or the state of being reduced to lowliness of mind, meekness, penitence and submission.

The doctrine he preached was humiliation and repentance.

3. Abasement of pride; mortification.

HUMILITY, n. [L. humilitas.]

1. In ethics, freedom from pride and arrogance; humbleness of mind; a modest estimate of one’s own worth. In theology, humility consists in lowliness of mind; a deep sense of one’s own unworthiness in the sight of God, self-abasement, penitence for sin, and submission to the divine will.

Before honor is humility. Proverbs 15:33.

Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Acts 20:19.

2. Act of submission.

With these humilities they satisfied the young king.

HUMITE, n. A mineral of a reddish brown color, and a shining luster; crystallized in octahedrons, much modified by truncation and bevelment. It is named from Sir Abm. Hume.

HUMMER, n. [from hum.] One that hums; an applauder.

HUMMING, ppr. Making a low buzzing or murmuring sound.

HUMMING, n. The sound of bees; a low murmuring sound.

HUMOR, n. [L. from humeo, to be moist.]

1. Moisture; but the word is chiefly used to express the moisture or fluids of animal bodies, as the humors of the eye. But more generally the word is used to express a fluid in its morbid or vitiated state. Hence, in popular speech, we often hear it said, the blood is full of humors. But the expression is not technical nor correct.

Aqueous humor of the eye, a transparent fluid, occupying the space between the crystalline lens and the cornea, both before and behind the pupil.

Crystalline humor or lens, a small transparent solid body, of a softish consistence, occupying a middle position in the eye, between the aqueous and vitreous humors, and directly behind the pupil. It is of a lenticular form, or with double convex surfaces, and is the principal instrument in refracting the rays of light, so as to form an image on the retina.

Vitreous humor of the eye, a fluid contained in the minute cells of a transparent membrane, occupying the greater part of the cavity of the eye, and all the space between the crystalline and the retina.

2. A disease of the skin; cutaneous eruptions.

3. Turn of mind; temper; disposition, or rather a peculiarity of disposition often temporary; so called because the temper of mind has been supposed to depend on the fluids of the body. Hence we say, good humor; melancholy humor; peevish humor. Such humors, when temporary, we call freaks, whims, caprice. Thus a person characterized by good nature may have a fit of ill humor; and an ill natured person may have a fit of good humor. So we say, it was the humor of the man at the time; it was the humor of the multitude.

4. That quality of the imagination which gives to ideas a wild or fantastic turn, and tends to excite laughter or mirth by ludicrous images or representations. Humor is less poignant and brilliant than wit; hence it is always agreeable. Wit, directed against folly, often offends by its severity; humor makes a man ashamed of his follies, without exciting his resentment. Humor may be employed solely to raise mirth and render conversation pleasant, or it may contain a delicate kind of satire.

5. Petulance; peevishness; better expressed by ill humor.

Is my friend all perfection? has he not humors to be endured?

6. A trick; a practice or habit.

I like not the humor of lying.

HUMOR, v.t. To gratify by yielding to particular inclination, humor, wish or desire; to indulge by compliance. We sometimes humor children to their injury or ruin. The sick, the infirm, and the aged often require to be humored.

1. To suit; to indulge; to favor by imposing no restraint, and rather contributing to promote by occasional aids. We say, an actor humors his part, or the piece.

It is my part to invent, and that of the musicians to humor that invention.

HUMORAL, a. Pertaining to or proceeding from the humors; as a humoral fever.

Humoral pathology, that pathology, or doctrine of the nature of diseases, which attributes all morbid phenomena to the disordered condition of the fluids or humors.

HUMORED, pp. Indulged; favored.

HUMORING, ppr. Indulging a particular wish or propensity; favoring; contributing to aid by falling into a design or course.

HUMORIST, n. One who conducts himself by his own inclination, or bent of mind; one who gratifies his own humor.

The humorist is one that is greatly pleased or greatly displeased with little things; his actions seldom directed by the reason and nature of things.

1. One that indulges humor in speaking or writing; one who has a playful fancy or genius.

2. One who has odd conceits; also, a wag; a droll.

HUMOROUS, a. Containing humor; full of wild or fanciful images; adapted to excite laughter; jocular; as a humorous essay; a humorous story.

1. Having the power to speak or write in the style of humor; fanciful; playful; exciting laughter; as a humorous man or author.

2. Subject to be governed by humor or caprice; irregular; capricious; whimsical.

I am known to be a humorous patrician.

Rough as a storm, and humorous as the wind.

3. Moist; humid. [Not in use.]

HUMOROUSLY, adv. With a wild or grotesque combination of ideas; in a manner to excite laughter or mirth; pleasantly; jocosely. Addison describes humorously the manual exercise of ladies’ fans.

1. Capriciously; whimsically; in conformity with one’s humor.

We resolve by halves, rashly and humorously.

HUMOROUSNESS, n. The state or quality of being humorous; oddness of conceit; jocularity.

1. Fickleness; capriciousness.

2. Peevishness; petulance.

HUMORSOME, a. Peevish; petulant; influenced by the humor of the moment.

The commons do not abet humorsome, factious arms.

1. Odd; humorous; adapted to excite laughter.

HUMORSOMELY, adv. Peevishly; petulantly.

1. Oddly; humorously.

HUMP, n. [L. umbo.] The protuberance formed by a crooked back; as a camel with one hump, or two humps.

HUMPBACK, n. A crooked back; high shoulders.

HUMPBACKED, a. Having a crooked back.

HUNCH, n. [See the Verb.] A hump; a protuberance; as the hunch of a camel.

1. A lump; a thick piece; as a hunch of bread; a word in common vulgar use in New England.

2. A push or jerk with the fist or elbow.

HUNCH, v.t. To push with the elbow; to push or thrust with a sudden jerk.

1. To push out in a protuberance; to crook the back.

HUNCHBACKED, a. Having a crooked back.

HUNDRED, a. [L. centum.] Denoting the product of ten multiplied by ten, or the number of ten times ten; as a hundred men.

HUNDRED, n. A collection, body or sum, consisting of ten times ten individuals or units; the number 100.

1. A division or part of a county in England, supposed to have originally contained a hundred families, or a hundred warriors, or a hundred manors. [But as the word denotes primarily a circuit or division, it is not certin that Alfred’s divisions had any reference to that number.]

HUNDRED-COURT, n. In England, a court held for all the inhabitants of a hundred.

HUNDREDER, n. In England, a man who may be of a jury in any controversy respecting land within the hundred to which he belongs.

1. One having the juriscition of a hundred.

HUNDREDTH, a. The ordinal of a hundred.

HUNG, pret. and pp. of hang.

HUNGARY-WATER, n. A distilled water prepared from the tops of flowers of rosemary; so called from a queen of Hungary, for whose use it as first made.

HUNGER, n.

1. An uneasy sensation occasioned by the want of food; a craving of food by the stomach; craving appetite. Hunger is not merely want of food, for persons when sick, may abstain long from eating without hunger, or an appetite for food. Hunger therefore is the pain or uneasiness of the stomach of a healthy person, when too long destitute of food.

2. Any strong or eager desire.

For hunger of my gold I die.

HUNGER, v.i. To feel the pain or uneasiness which is occasioned by long abstinence from food; to crave food.

1. To desire with great eagerness; to long for.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Matthew 5:6.

HUNGER, v.t. To famish. [Not in use.]

HUNGER-BIT, HUNGER-BITTEN, a. Pained, pinched or weakened by hunger.

HUNGERING, ppr. Feeling the uneasiness of want of food; desiring eagerly; longing for; craving.

HUNGERLY, a. Hungry; wanting food or nourishment.

HUNGERLY, adv. With keen appetite. [Little used.]

HUNGER-STARVED, a. Starved with hunger; pinched by want of food.

HUNGRED, a. Hungry; pinched by want of food.

HUNGRILY, adv. [from hungry.] With keen appetite; voraciously.

When on harsh acorns hungrily they fed.

HUNGRY, a. Having a keen appetite; feeling pain or uneasiness from want of food. Eat only when you are hungry.

1. Having an eager desire.

2. Lean; emaciated, as if reduced by hunger.

Cassius has a lean and hungry look.

3. Not rich or fertile; poor; barren; requiring substances to enrich itself; as a hungry soil; a hungry gravel.

HUNKS, n. A covetous sordid man; a miser; a niggard.

HUNS, n. [L. hunni.] The Scythians who conquered Pannonia, and gave it its present name, Hungary.

HUNT, v.t.

1. To chase wild animals, particularly quadrupeds, for the purpose of catching them for food, or for the diversion of sportsmen; to pursue with hounds for taking, as game; as, to hunt stag or a hare.

2. To go in search of, for the purpose of shooting; as, to hunt wolves, bears, squirrels or partridges. This is the common use of the word in America. It includes fowling by shooting.

3. To pursue; to follow closely.

Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. Psalm 140:11.

4. To use, direct or mange hounds in the chase.

He hunts a pack of dogs.

To hunt out or after, to seek; to search for.

To hunt from, to pursue and drive out or away.

To hunt down, to depress; to bear down by persecution or violence.

HUNT, v.i. To follow the chase. Genesis 27:5.

1. To seek wild animals for game, or for killing them by shooting when noxious; with for; as, to hunt for bears or wolves; to hunt for quails, or for ducks.

2. To seek by close pursuit; to search; with for.

The adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Proverbs 6:26.

HUNT, n. A chase of wild animals for catching them.

1. A huntsman. [Not in use.]

2. A pack of hounds.

3. Pursuit; chase.

4. A seeking of wild animals of any kind for game; as a hunt for squirrels.

HUNTED, pp. Chased; pursued; sought.

HUNTER, n. One who pursues wild animals with a view to take them, either for sport or for food.

1. A dog that scents game, or is employed in the chase.

2. A horse used in the chase.

HUNTING, ppr. Chasing for seizure; pursuing; seeking; searching.

HUNTING, n. The act or practice of pursuing wild animals, for catching or killing them. Hunting was originally practiced by men for the purpose of procuring food, as it still is by uncivilized nations. But among civilized men, it is practiced mostly for exercise or diversion, or for the destruction of noxious animals, as in America.

1. A pursuit; a seeking.

HUNTING-HORN, n. A bugle; a horn used to cheer the hounds in pursuit of game.

HUNTING-HORSE, HUNTING-NAG, A horse used in hunting.

HUNTING-SEAT, n. A temporary residence for the purpose of hunting.

HUNTRESS, n. A female that hunts, or follows the chase. Diana is called the huntress.

HUNTSMAN, n. One who hunts, or who practices hunting.

1. The servant whose office it is to manage the chase.

HUNTSMANSHIP, n. The art or practice of hunting, or the qualifications of a hunter.

HURDEN, n. [made of hurds, hards, or coarse flax.]

A coarse kind of linen.

HURDLE, n. [L. crates.]

1. A texture of twigs, osiers or sticks; a crate of various forms, according to its destination. The English give this name to a sled or crate on which criminals are drawn to the place of execution. In this sense, it is not used in America.

2. In fortification, a collection of twigs or sticks interwoven closely and sustained by long stakes. It is made in the figure of a long square, five or six feet by three and a half. Hurdles serve to render works firm, or to cover traverses and lodgments for the defense of workmen against fire-works or stones.

3. In husbandry, a frame of split timber or sticks wattled together, serving for gates, inclosures, etc.

HURDS, n. The coarse part of flax or hemp. [See Hards.]

HURDY-GURDY, n. An instrument of music, said to be used in the streets of London.

HURL, v.t.

1. To throw with violence; to drive with great force; as, to hurl a stone.

And hurl them headlong to their fleet and main.

2. To utter with vehemence; as, to hurl out vows. [Not in use.]

3. To play at a kind of game.

HURL, n. The act of throwing with violence.

1. Tumult; riot; commotion.

HURLBAT, n. A whirl-bat; an old kind of weapon.

HURLBONE, n. In a horse, a bone near the middle of the buttock.

HURLED, pp. Thrown with violence.

HURLER, n. One who hurls, or who plays at hurling.

HURLING, ppr. Throwing with force; playing at hurling.

HURLWIND, n. A whirlwind, which see.

HURLY, HURLY-BURLY, n. Tumult; bustle; confusion.

HURRAW, HURRAH, exclam. Hoora; huzza. [See Hoora.]

HURRICANE, n. [L. furio, furo, to rage.]

1. A most violent storm of wind, occurring often in the West Indies, and sometimes in higher northern latitudes, and on the coast of the United States, as far north as New England. A hurricane is distinguished from every other kind of tempest by the extreme violence of the wind, and by its sudden changes; the wind often veering suddenly several points, sometimes a quarter of the circle and even more.

2. Any violent tempest.

HURRIED, pp. [from hurry.] Hastened; urged or impelled to rapid motion or vigorous action.

HURRIER, n. One who hurries, urges or impels.

HURRY, v.t. [L. curro.]

1. To hasten; to impel to greater speed; to drive or press forward with more rapidity; to urge to act or proceed with more celerity; as, to hurry the workmen or the work. Our business hurries us. The weather is hot and the load heavy; we cannot safely hurry the horses.

2. To drive or impel with violence.

Impetuous lust hurries him on to satisfy the cravings of it.

3. To urge or drive with precipitation and confusion; for confusion is often caused by hurry.

And wild amazement hurries up and down

The little number of your doubtful friends.

To hurry away, to drive or carry away in haste.

HURRY, v.i. To move or act with haste; to proceed with celerity or precipitation.

The business is urgent; let us hurry.

HURRY, n. A driving or pressing forward in motion or business.

1. Pressure; urgency to haste.

We cannot wait long; we are in a hurry.

2. Precipitation that occasions disorder or confusion.

It is necessary sometimes to be in haste, but never in a hurry.

3. Tumult; bustle; commotion.

Ambition raises a tumult in the soul, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought.