hum vs sniff

hum

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. 

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 

sniff

noun
  • A quantity of something that is inhaled through the nose. 

  • A brief perception, or tiny amount. 

  • An instance of sniffing. 

  • Cocaine. 

verb
  • To perceive vaguely. 

  • To make a short, audible inhalation, through the nose, as when smelling something. 

  • To inhale drugs (usually cocaine) through the nose, usually in powder form. 

  • To say (something) while sniffing, such as in case of illness or unhappiness, or in contempt. 

  • To pry; to investigate in an interfering manner. 

  • To intercept and analyse packets of data being transmitted over a network. 

  • To be dismissive or contemptuous of something. 

intj
  • A short inhalation sound, sometimes associated with crying. 

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