Lexic.us

Definition of Humor

1. Noun. A message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter.

2. Verb. Put into a good mood.

3. Noun. The trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous. "You can't survive in the army without a sense of humor"

4. Noun. A characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling. "He was in a bad humor"

5. Noun. The quality of being funny. "I fail to see the humor in it"

6. Noun. (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state. "The humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile"

7. Noun. The liquid parts of the body.

Definition of Humor

1. n. Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc.

2. v. t. To comply with the humor of; to adjust matters so as suit the peculiarities, caprices, or exigencies of; to adapt one's self to; to indulge by skillful adaptation; as, to humor the mind.

Definition of Humor

1. Noun. The quality of being amusing, comical, funny. (defdate from the early 18th c.) ¹

2. Noun. (archaic) One of four fluids (blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm) that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body. (defdate from the 15th c.) ¹

3. Noun. A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim. ¹

4. Noun. (medicine) Either of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour. ¹

5. Noun. A fluid or semi-fluid of the body. ¹

6. Verb. (transitive) : To pacify by indulging. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Humor

1. to indulge [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: indulge

Medical Definition of Humor

1. 1. Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. The ancient physicians believed that there were four humors (the blood, phlegm, yellow bile or choler, and black bile or melancholy), on the relative proportion of which the temperament and health depended. 2. A vitiated or morbid animal fluid, such as often causes an eruption on the skin. "A body full of humors." 3. State of mind, whether habitual or temporary (as formerly supposed to depend on the character or combination of the fluids of the body); disposition; temper; mood; as, good humor; ill humor. "Examine how your humor is inclined, And which the ruling passion of your mind." (Roscommon) "A prince of a pleasant humor." (Bacon) "I like not the humor of lying." (Shak) 4. Changing and uncertain states of mind; caprices; freaks; vagaries; whims. "Is my friend all perfection, all virtue and discretion? Has he not humors to be endured?" (South) 5. That quality of the imagination which gives to ideas an incongruous or fantastic turn, and tends to excite laughter or mirth by ludicrous images or representations; a playful fancy; facetiousness. "For thy sake I admit That a Scot may have humor, I'd almost said wit." (Goldsmith) "A great deal of excellent humor was expended on the perplexities of mine host." (W. Irving) Aqueous humor, Crystalline humor or lens, Vitreous humor. See Eye. Out of humor, dissatisfied; displeased; in an unpleasant frame of mind. Synonym: Wit, satire, pleasantry, temper, disposition, mood, frame, whim, fancy, caprice. See Wit. Origin: OE. Humour, OF. Humor, umor, F. Humeur, L. Humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. Humere, umere, to be moist. Alternative forms: humour. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Humor

hummingbirds hummings hummock hummocked hummocking hummocks hummocky hummum hummums hummus

hummuses humogen humogens humongoid humongous humor (current term) humor aquosus humor vitreus humoral humoral antibodies

humoral doctrine humoral immune response humoral immunities humoral immunity humoral pathology humoral theory humoralism humoralisms humoralist humoralists

Literary usage of Humor

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Poetry by Modern Poetry Association (1916)
"THE CRITIC'S SENSE OF humor In a recent interview in the New York Times, Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson, erstwhile editor of The Century, ..."

2. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1908)
"One does not generally associate humor with mathematics; ... humor then requires a certain comprehension of the nature of things and specially of their ..."

3. European Theories of the Drama: An Anthology of Dramatic Theory and by Barrett Harper Clark (1918)
"(But undoubtedly, a man's humor may incline him to dress differently from other people. ... I cannot think that a humor which is only a habit or disposition ..."

4. Publishers Weekly by Publishers' Board of Trade (U.S.), Book Trade Association of Philadelphia, American Book Trade Union, Am. Book Trade Association, R.R. Bowker Company (1912)
"Contents: English wit and humor; Irish wit and humor; Scotch wit and humor; ... French wit and humor; German wit and humor; Wit and humor of American ..."

5. The American Journal of Psychology by Granville Stanley Hall, Edward Bradford Titchener (1907)
"I have already indicated the survival-value of humor for superstition ; it doubtless performs a similar and larger function for play. ..."

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