hum vs siren

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. 

siren

verb
  • To make a noise with, or as if with, a siren. 

noun
  • A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895). 

  • An astrophysical event that can be used for calculating cosmic distances. 

  • A dangerously seductive woman. 

  • A member of a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae, commonly used for all species subsumed under the family of Sirenidae. 

  • A member of an order of mammals of Sirenia. 

  • One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks. 

  • One who sings sweetly and charms. 

  • Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hestina. 

  • A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device (first recorded 1879). 

  • An instrument for demonstrating the laws of beats and combination tones. 

adj
  • Relating to or like a siren. 

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