HUMBLE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Humble

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/hˈəmbəl/ Listen

adjective

Humble adj. (compar. humbler; superl. humblest)

1.

Near the ground; not high or lofty. "Thy humble nest built on the ground."

2.

Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects.

3.

Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; weak; modest. Used to describe people. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." "She should be humble who would please." "Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our... religion we can never hope to be a happy nation."

Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva).

To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humiliation; a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles.

Humble adj. Hornless. See Hummel. (Scot.)

verb

Humble v. t. (past & past part. humbled; pres. part. humbling)

1.

To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate. "Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes." "The genius which humbled six marshals of France."

2.

To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive; often used rexlexively. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you."

Synonyms: To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade.

See images of 'Humble'

Etymology of 'Humble'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Humble" Quotes from Famous Books

... himself, "By Allah, this must be either a piece of Paradise or some King's palace!" Then he saluted the company with much respect praying for their prosperity, and kissing the ground before them, stood with his head bowed down in humble attitude.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton

... has invented a lot of asinine fashions and customs, a lot of unnecessary gear and junk, and feeds himself on unhealthy concoctions that give him indigestion and make his teeth fall out, he flatters himself that he is the wisest man on earth, whereas, all things considered, in my humble opinion, he is the prize fool of the universe—for removing himself so far from nature. And when the female follower of Dame Fashion goes mincing along the cement-paved street in her sharp-toed, French-heeled slippers, on her way to the factory, she flatters herself that she knows better ...

— The Drama of the Forests - Romance and Adventure • Arthur Heming

... that the terms became mixed and their definitions obscure. This confusion of ideas has prevailed down to the present time. One result of this is that the people may sometimes state, when they wave their incense-sticks or light their candles, that their humble sacrifice is made to Shang Ti, whom in reality they have no right either to worship or to offer sacrifice to, but whom they may unofficially pay respect and make obeisance to, as they might and did to the emperor behind the high boards on the roadsides which shielded him from their ...

— Myths and Legends of China • E. T. C. Werner

... children, but the children of others, whom she encourages to come to the sacred altar. In the Sunday-school room the good woman is a princess and she exerts an influence which purifies and ennobles society. In the sick room and among the humble, the poor and the suffering the good woman is an angel ...

— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... the humble ones arise, the poor in heart be glad, And let the mourning ones again with robes of praise be clad. For He who cooled the furnace, and smoothed the stormy wave, And tamed the Chaldean lions, is ...

— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

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