buzz vs hum

buzz

verb
  • To utter a murmuring sound; to speak with a low, humming voice. 

  • To fly while making such a sound. 

  • To show a high level of activity and haste, energization or excitement, to be busy as a bee in one’s actions but perhaps mentally charged. 

  • Of a group of people, to talk about some interesting topic excitedly. 

  • To whisper; to communicate, as tales, in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly. 

  • To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings. 

  • To fly at high speed and at a very low altitude over a specified area, as to make a surprise pass. 

  • To talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice. 

  • To cut the hair in a close-cropped military style, or buzzcut. 

  • To communicate with (a person) by means of a buzzer. 

noun
  • Major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes. 

  • Synonym of fizz-buzz (“counting game”) 

  • The audible friction of voiced consonants. 

  • A whisper. 

  • A rush or feeling of energy or excitement; a feeling of slight intoxication. 

  • A continuous humming noise, as of bees; a confused murmur, as of general conversation in low tones. 

  • A telephone call or e-mail. 

hum

verb
  • To express by humming. 

  • To produce low sounds which blend continuously 

  • 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 

noun
  • 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. 

  • An often indistinct sound resembling human humming. 

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

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

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