Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A musical instrument out of tune or rudely constructed; a hurdy-gurdy.
- noun Music poorly played.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An instrument out of tune or rudely constructed; music badly played.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
instrument out of tune or rudely constructed. - noun
Music badly played.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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But by that time, no one listened to the humstrum of his one-man band.
Your opportunity to help make New Jersey safer from illegal handgun violence Bryan Miller 2008
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Why the devil don't you sell that humstrum of yours, that harp, I mean, and raise the wind?
My Life: or the Adventures of Geo. Thompson Being the Auto-Biography of an Author. Written by Himself. George Thompson
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Bonnell Thornton had just published a burlesque Ode on St. Cecilia's day, adapted to the ancient British musick, viz. the salt-box, the Jew's-harp, the marrow-bones and cleaver, the humstrum or hurdy-gurdy, &c.
Life Of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887
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Jew's-harp, the marrow-bones and cleaver, the humstrum or hurdy-gurdy,
Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765 James Boswell 1767
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[(lesson on her humstrum, do y) 29.7 (ou understand music?) -16.3 (\227a little.)]
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All this time she was turning and twisting the cloth — no, ’twont do, I’ll even go and return Madam Fussock her cloth, and give my young lady a lesson on her humstrum, do you understand music? — a little.
whichbe commented on the word humstrum
An instrument out of tune or rudely constructed; music badly played.
August 26, 2008
bilby commented on the word humstrum
"A musical instrument made of a mopstick, a bladder, and some packthread, thence also called bladder and string, and hurdy gurdy; it is played on like a violin, which is sometimes ludicrously called a humstrum; sometimes, instead of a bladder, a tin can is used."
- Francis Grose, 'The Vulgar Tongue'.
September 8, 2008
qms commented on the word humstrum
I face a confounding conundrum:
On alternate days I become dumb.
My lyre is unstrung,
The songs I'd have sung
Are sunk in cacophonous humstrum.
August 27, 2017