croon

American  

[kroon] / krun /

verb (used without object)

1. to sing or hum in a soft, soothing voice.

   to croon to a baby.

2. to sing in an evenly modulated, slightly exaggerated manner.

   Popular singers began crooning in the 1930s.

3. to utter a low murmuring sound.

4. Scot. and North England.

   1. to bellow; low.

   2. to lament; mourn.

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verb (used with object)

1. to sing (a song) in a crooning manner.

2. to lull by singing or humming to in a soft, soothing voice.

   to croon a child to sleep.

noun

1. the act or sound of crooning.

croon British  

/ kruːn /

verb

1. to sing or speak in a soft low tone

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noun

1. a soft low singing or humming

Other Word Forms

• crooner noun
• crooningly adverb

Etymology

Origin of croon

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English cronen, from Middle Dutch: “to lament”

Example Sentences

At first no one notices them—everyone is distracted by the bounce house, frisbee tossing, and the country singer crooning about the good ol’ USA.

From Literature

"You have not been eating," he crooned to the Dragon, as if he were talking to Star.

From Literature

“What a good little baby,” Mom crooned, pressing more formula into his mouth.

From Literature

"Hold still, ho-o-old still," crooned Herbert Thatcher to the squirming mass of brown and yellow fur in his hands.

From Literature

The romantic element of Sondheim’s score is best captured in the gorgeous singing of Chris Hunter’s Anthony Hope, whose crooning of “Johanna” provokes an epidemic of goosebumps throughout La Mirada Theatre.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hum
• murmur
• wail