buzz

«buzz» in Mova's school dictionary: to make a long low humming sound like a bee or a fly — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (buzz, buzzes, buzzed, buzzing); noun (a buzz, buzzes)

meaning for a pupil

1) To buzz is to make a long low humming sound like a bee or a fly. tree →

2) A buzz is that sound, or the sound of a doorbell, alarm or phone vibrating. tree →

3) To buzz is to press a buzzer, for example to let someone into a building. tree →

4) A buzz is an excited, busy feeling: «There was a buzz in the classroom.» tree →

5) (informal) To give someone a buzz is to phone them. tree →

6) To buzz around is to move about quickly and busily. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, bees and flies buzz because their wings beat very fast; sound is vibration. In everyday life, phones buzz, doorbells buzz, and quiz shows have buzzers. In stories, a «buzz» of excitement spreads before a big event. Phrases: «buzz off» (rude: go away), «give someone a buzz», «buzz with excitement», «buzz cut».

examples

• The bees buzzed around the flowers. tree →
• A fly was buzzing at the window. tree →
• My phone buzzed in my pocket. tree →
• Buzz me in when I ring the bell. tree →
• There was a buzz of excitement before the trip. tree →
• The school was buzzing with news of the snow day. tree →
• I'll give you a buzz later. tree →
• Press the buzzer if you know the answer! tree →

note

Double z: buzz, buzzes. An onomatopoeia: the word sounds like the noise. «Buzz off» is rude. Buzz Lightyear and Buzz Aldrin (the astronaut) are names. Safety: stay calm near buzzing bees and wasps; don't swat them.

In the corpora

• Brass players buzz their lips into the mouthpiece; blowing without buzzing gives just a hiss.
• Brass players buzz their lips into the mouthpiece; the trumpet, trombone, horn and tuba are brass.
• Bumblebees can buzz at a special pitch that shakes pollen out of tomato flowers, and farmers use them in greenhouses.
• We cannot feel these buzzes, but many water animals can.
• Onomatopoeia means words that sound like their meaning, like crash, bang, buzz and sizzle.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «buzz» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.