bugle vs hum

bugle

noun
  • The sound of something that bugles. 

  • A simple brass instrument consisting of a horn with no valves, playing only pitches in its harmonic series 

  • A sort of wild ox; a buffalo. 

  • A plant in the family Lamiaceae grown as a ground cover Ajuga reptans, and other plants in the genus Ajuga. 

  • A tubular glass or plastic bead sewn onto clothes as a decorative trim 

  • A horn used by hunters. 

  • Anything shaped like a bugle, round or conical and having a bell on one end. 

verb
  • To announce, sing, or cry in the manner of a musical bugle. 

hum

noun
  • An often indistinct sound resembling human humming. 

  • Unpleasant odour. 

  • A phenomenon, or collection of phenomena, involving widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people. 

  • Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive. 

  • A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed. 

verb
  • To produce low sounds which blend continuously 

  • To express by humming. 

  • To reek, smell bad. 

  • To make a sound from the vocal chords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed. 

  • To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly 

  • To buzz, be busily active like a beehive 

intj
  • Synonym of um: a noise indicating doubt, uncertainty, &c. 

  • Synonym of hmm: a noise indicating thought, consideration, &c. 

How often have the words bugle and hum occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )