▪ I. croon, v. Chiefly Sc.
(kruːn)
Forms: 5–9 Sc. croyn, (5–7 croyne, 9 croin), 6 Sc. cruin, 6–9 crune, 8– croon.
[Originally only northern, chiefly Sc. (kr{obar}n, kr{smY}n), whence in 19th c. Eng. mainly since Burns. It corresponds to Du. kreunen to groan, whimper, MDu. krônen to lament, mourn loudly, groan, MLG. kronen to growl, grumble, scold, EFris. krȫnen to cause to weep; cf. also OHG. chrônnan(:—-njan), chrônan, MLG. kroenen to chatter, prattle, babble, and chrôn, crôn adj. talkative, chattering, noisy. There is no trace of the word in OE., and it appears to be one of the LG. words that came into Sc. early in the ME. period: its form is that of a word in ME. ō. (In Towneley Myst., as in MSc., oy = ō.)]
1. intr. To utter a continued, loud, deep sound; to bellow as a bull, to roar, low; to boom as a bell. Sc. or north. dial.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. iv. 40 The ground begouth to rummys, croyn, and ring, Vndir thair feit [sub pedibus mugire solum]. 1588 [see crooning ppl. a.]. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Réer, In tearmes of hunting we say, that the red Deere bells, and the fallow troytes or croynes. 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 140 To Crune, mugire. 1787 Burns Holy Fair xxvi, Now Clinkumbell, wi' rattlin tow, Begins to jow an' croon. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake ii. Wks. (1876) 35 Even the dull cattle crooned and gazed. 1828 Southey Brough Bells Poems VI. 227 That lordly Bull of mine..How loudly to the hills he crunes, That crune to him again. |
2. a. To utter a low murmuring sound; to sing (or speak) in a low murmuring tone; to hum softly. spec. to sing popular sentimental songs in a low, smooth voice, esp. into a closely-held microphone (see quot.1959 s.v. crooning below).
(The earlier quots. may have been ironical or humorous uses of sense 1.)
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. 116 Primus P. For to syng..I can. Sec. P. Let se how ye croyne. Can ye bark at the mone? 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 179 The Sisters gray befoir this day, Did crune within thair cloister. a 1818 Macneil Poems (1844) 56 Whan, crooning quietly by himsel', He framed the lay. 1832 Motherwell Jeanie Morrison vii, To wander by this green burnside, And hear its waters croon. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xix. 571, I hear a mother crooning to her baby. 1920 Catal. Victor Records, Standard Songs. ‘Croon, Croon, Underneat' de Moon’ (Clutsam). 1931 H. Arlen (title of song in the musical production You Said It) Learn to croon. 1933 Punch 2 Aug. 122/1 Bing Crosby the crooner..croons to his feminine class and is crooned to in reply. 1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. p. ii/2, I used to sup while Roy Fox's ‘boys’ played joyously with Les Allen ‘crooning’. |
b. To make murmuring lament or moan. Sc. or north. dial.
| 1823 Galt Entail I. ii. 11 Frae the time o' the sore news, she croynt awa, and her life gied out like the snuff o' a can'le. 1830 ― Lawrie T. i. ii. 6 Croining and dwining, peaking and pining, at the fire-side. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss., Croon, to lament, wail. |
3. trans. To sing (a song, tune, etc.) in a low murmuring undertone; to hum. spec. to sing (a song, etc.) in a low, smooth voice (cf. crool n.).
| 1790 Burns Tam O' Shanter 84 Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet. 1848 Dickens Dombey (C.D. ed.) 60 Paul sometimes crooning out a feeble accompaniment. 1872 Holland Marb. Proph. 60 Over the cradle the mother hung Softly crooning a slumber song. 1915 C. Lean (title of song in the musical production The Blue Paradise) The tune they croon in the U.S.A. 1925 H. D. Kerr (title of song) Croon a little lullaby. 1931 Durante & Kefoed Night Clubs 227 His band stressed the soft notes, and Rudy [Vallée] crooned his way right into the heart of the nation. 1932 Amer. Speech VII. 250 Bing Crosby plaintively croons that he has ‘Found a Million Dollar Baby in the Five and Ten Cent Store’. 1933 Fortune Aug. 47/2 Their use of ‘jazz’ includes both Duke Ellington's Afric brass and Rudy Vallée crooning I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All? |
Hence ˈcrooning vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1588 A. Hume Hymns, Triumph of the Lord 234 (Bannatyne Club) 41 Be cruining Bulls of heigh and haughtie minde. 1828 Southey Brough Bells, That cruning of the kine. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xviii, The cocks and hens..made only crooning subdued noises. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xix. 270 As soft and musical as the crooning of a wood-pigeon. 1923 B. James (title of song) Carolina Mammy. A real Southern mammy song—the crooning kind. 1927 Melody Maker Aug. 784/3 ‘Muddy Water’ has a feature in a sweet crooning vocal introduction. 1929 Ibid. Dec. 1139/3 His crooning style of singing. 1931 Musical Courier (N.Y.) in Oxf. Compan. Mus. (1938) 1018/2 No jazz or cheap crooning stuff had a place in her repertoire. 1932 Literary Digest 30 Jan. 23/2 ‘You can't help thinking badly of any man who would degrade himself whining in that way..’ he said of crooning. 1935 Wodehouse Blandings Castle v. 116 Everybody knows what Crooning Tenors are... They sit at the piano and gaze into a girl's eyes and sing in a voice that sounds like gas escaping from a pipe about Love and the Moonlight and You. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. XII. 570/2 In that type of vocal performance known as ‘crooning’ the lower range of the voice is chiefly used, and that more in the manner of conversation than of singing, though falsetto notes are often introduced. There is a noticeable gliding or sliding from one pitch to another and the intonation is often deliberately indefinite... Characteristic also is a certain oscillation or catch in the voice as it comes to rest momentarily upon a sustained sound. |
▪ II. croon, n. Chiefly Sc.
(kruːn)
Also 6 crone, 8–9 crune.
[f. croon v.]
1. A loud, deep sound, such as the bellow of a bull or the boom of a large bell. Sc. or north. dial.
| 1513 Douglas æneis xii. xii. 56 Lyke as twa bustuus bullis..Ruschand togiddir with cronys and feirfull granis. 1785 Burns Halloween xxvi, The Deil, or else an outler Quey, Gat up an' gae a croon. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake 204 The bittern mounts the morning air, And rings the sky with quavering croon. 1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 14 The bell's last croon. |
2. A low murmuring or humming sound, as of a tune hummed in an undertone.
| 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. ii, She [a witch] can o'ercast the night, and cloud the moon, And mak the deils obedient to her crune. 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1843) 82 The cushat's croon. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xii, She thought over the old hag's croon. |