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buzzes

[buhz]

Origin

noun

a low, vibrating, humming sound, as of bees, machinery, or people talking.

a rumor or report.

Informal. a phone call: When I find out, I'll give you a buzz.

Slang.

a feeling of intense enthusiasm, excitement, or exhilaration: I got a terrific buzz from those Pacific sunsets.

a feeling of slight intoxication.

verb (used without object)

to make a low, vibrating, humming sound.

to speak or murmur with such a sound.

to be filled with the sound of buzzing or whispering: The room buzzed.

to whisper; gossip: Everyone is buzzing about the scandal.

to move busily from place to place.

EXPAND

10.

Slang. to go; leave (usually followed by off or along): I'll buzz along now. Tell him to buzz off and leave me alone.

COLLAPSE

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Buzzes is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

11.

to make a buzzing sound with: The fly buzzed its wings.

12.

to tell or spread (a rumor, gossip, etc.) secretively.

13.

to signal or summon with a buzzer: He buzzed his secretary.

14.

Informal. to make a phone call to.

15.

Aeronautics.

to fly a plane very low over: to buzz a field.

to signal or greet (someone) by flying a plane low and slowing the motor spasmodically.

Idiom

16.

have/get a buzz on, Slang. to be slightly intoxicated: After a few beers they all had a buzz on.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English busse; imitative

Related forms

buzz·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun Slang.

a man's very short haircut; crew cut.

Origin:
origin uncertain

Link To buzzes

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

buzz

late 15c., echoic of bees and other insects. Aviation sense of "fly low and close" is 1941. Noun meaning "a busy rumor" is attested from c.1600; that of "humming sound" is from 1640s. Meaning "pleasant sense of intoxication" first recorded 1935. The game of counting off, with 7 or multiples of it replaced

EXPAND

by buzz is attested from 1864. Buzz off (1914) originally meant "to ring off on the telephone."

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

buzz definition

n.
a call on the telephone. (Usually with give. See also jingle.) : I'll give you a buzz tomorrow.
tv.
to call someone on the telephone. : Buzz me about noon.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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"People having speech defects sometimes learn part of the practice by laborious study, but good speech is always mainly unconscious speech. Any tennis player, even if he could not explain this enigma, could provide an analogy for it. When he sees a rapidly flying tennis ball coming toward him, he knows what he must do. He must maneuver himself into the proper position, be poised with his weight properly distributed, meet the ball with the proper sweep of his arm and with his racket held at just the right pitch, and all this must be timed to stop the flying ball at a precise point. But if the tennis player pauses to think of all these actions and how he will perform them, he is lost. The ball will not skim back over the net, building air pressure as it goes until it buzzes down into the opponent's corner. If the tennis player thinks about anything except where he wants the ball to go and what he plans for the next stroke, he will probably become so awkward that he will be lucky to hit the ball at all. Rapid, precise muscular actions can be successfully carried out only by the unconscious part of the brain. And so with the speaker. He cannot speak well unless he speaks unconsciously, for his movements are as precise, as complicated, and as exactly timed as those of the tennis player."

-Charlton Laird

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