hum vs ruff

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. 

ruff

noun
  • A low, vibrating beat of a drum, quieter than a roll; a ruffle. 

  • A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s). 

  • Arripis georgianus, a fish found in cool waters off the southern coast of Australia; the Australian herring or tommy ruff. 

  • An instance of ruffing, or an opportunity to ruff, when unable to follow suit. 

  • Philomachus pugnax (syn. Calidris pugnax), a gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of Eurasia; specifically, a male of the species which develops a distinctive ruff of feathers and ear tufts during mating season (the female is called a reeve). 

  • A collar on a shaft or other piece to prevent endwise motion. 

  • Anything formed with plaits or flutings like a frill. 

  • A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or around the neck of a bird. 

  • A collar of lengthened or distinctively coloured fur on or around the neck of an animal. 

intj
  • The bark of a dog; arf, woof. 

verb
  • To beat a ruff or ruffle, as on a drum. 

  • To shape (fabric, etc.) into a ruff; to adorn (a garment, etc.) with a ruff. 

  • Especially in the form ruff out: to defeat (a card, etc.) by ruffing, thus establishing the master card in the suit led. 

  • Of a drum, etc.: to have a ruff or ruffle beaten on it. 

  • To ruffle; to disorder. 

  • Of a falcon, hawk, etc.: to hit (the prey) without fixing or grabbing hold of it. 

  • To play a trump card to a trick when unable to follow suit (that is, when unable to play a card of the same suit as the previous or leading card). 

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