different between humming vs parrot

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?m??/
• Rhymes: -?m??

Etymology 1

From hum +? -ing.

Verb

humming

1. present participle of hum

Etymology 2

From Middle English hummynge, equivalent to hum +? -ing.

Noun

humming (plural hummings)

1. The sound of something that hums; a hum.
   • 1969, New York Magazine (volume 2, number 49, 8 December 1969, page 70)

     There are some contemporary additions to these scattered fragments from Shakespeare. Mostly they are songs; sometimes they are various screechings and hummings […]

English

Etymology

First attested in 1525. From Middle French perrot, either a diminutive of Pierre or a shortened form of perroquet (whence also parakeet). Compare French pierrot and Occitan parrat. A number of origins have been suggested for perroquet, such as Spanish periquito and Italian parrocchetto. The relationship between these various words is disputed. Replaced earlier popinjay.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: p?r??t, IPA^(key): /?pæ??t/, /?p???t/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: p?r??t, IPA^(key): /?pæ??t/
• (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -æ??t
• Hyphenation: par?rot

Noun

parrot (plural parrots)

1. A kind of bird, many species of which are colourful and able to mimic human speech, of the order Psittaciformes or (narrowly) of the family Psittacidae.

   Synonyms: (bird of the order Psittaciformes) psittacine, popinjay
2. (figuratively) A parroter; a person who repeats the words or ideas of others.

   Synonyms: copycat, mimic

   • 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar,

     In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.

3. (archaic) A puffin.

   Synonyms: sea-parrot, tomnoddy

4. (geology, obsolete) Channel coal.
5. (aviation, slang) A transponder.

Hyponyms

• (kind of bird): budgerigar, kakapo, lorikeet, lory, lovebird, macaw, parakeet, rosella

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Polly
• popinjay
• Dead Parrot
• who's a pretty boy then

Verb

parrot (third-person singular simple present parrots, present participle parroting, simple past and past participle parroted or parrotted)

1. (transitive) To repeat (exactly what has just been said) without necessarily showing understanding, in the manner of a parrot.
   • 1996, Bill Clinton, Presidential Radio Address (15 June)

     So when political leaders parrot the tobacco company line, say cigarettes are not necessarily addictive, and oppose our efforts to keep tobacco away from our children, they continue to cater to powerful interests, but they're not standing up for parents and children.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:parrot.

Synonyms

• (to repeat exactly): ape, copycat

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• raptor