See Also: humour(medicine)
humour(1)(dictionary)
humour(2)(dictionary)
ill humour(dictionary)
humour(encyclopedia)
humour 1, noun(dictionary)
good humour(dictionary)
gallows humour(dictionary)
black humour(dictionary)
humour (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)

humour(1) (iou)



humour noun. Also *humor. ME.
[Anglo-Norman (h)umour, Old French (h)umor, -ur (mod. humeur) from Latin (h)umor, from (h)umere: see HUMID, -OUR.]
I.
Hist. The body fluid of a plant or animal; spec. (also cardinal humour) each of the four fluids (blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy) formerly (in Galen's theory) held to determine a person's physical and mental qualities. ME.
J. Bronowski The Greek elements were also the four humours which the human temperament combines.
b. In pl. The qualities (of a specified kind) determined by these fluids. Long arch. E17.
c. The particular constitution of a material substance. M17-E18.
S. Switzer To wonder how Sea-Water shall be thus stripped of its pristine humour.
Either of the transparent fluids which fill parts of the eyeball; the aqueous humour; the vitreous humour. LME.
Moisture; vapour. LME-L17.
Shakespeare Julius Caesar To walk unbraced and suck up the humours Of the dank morning.
II.
Mental disposition (orig. as held to have been determined by the bodily humours); temperament. L15.
Shakespeare Taming of Shrew Thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
b. Character, style, or spirit (of a musical or literary composition etc.). L16-E18.
State of mind, mood. Formerly also, habitual frame of mind. E16.
P. Bowles With all the venom of which a foul humour is capable.
b. An excited state of public feeling. Now rare. E17.
Carlyle Friedrich is deeply unaware of the humour he has raised against himself.
A particular inclination; a whim, a caprice. Also, (the state of mind characterized by) an inclination for doing or a fancy to do something. M16.
Burke All which had been done..was the effect not of humour, but of system.
b. In pl. Moods or fancies exhibited in action; vagaries; odd or whimsical traits. Now passing into sense 7. M16.
N. Hawthorne Mariners..who had come ashore to see the humors of Election Day.
A quality of action, speech, etc., which causes amusement; facetiousness, comicality; (more fully sense of humour) the faculty of perceiving and enjoying what is ludicrous or amusing; a sense of the ludicrous or amusing. L16.
Swift The priest..shew'd some humour in his face. L. Deighton Much of the book's humour came from its deadpan style. V. Glendinning She extracted surreal and sometimes ribald humour from the most unlikely situations.
Phrases: aqueous humour: see AQUEOUS 1. cardinal humour: see sense 1 above. crystalline humour: see CRYSTALLINE adjective 1. glassy humour: see GLASSY adjective 1. glazy humour: see GLAZY 1. out of humour displeased. radical humour: see RADICAL adjective 2a. sense of humour: see sense 7 above. VITREOUS humour.
humourless adjective devoid of humour M19.
humourlessness noun L19.