Definition of: sing

(sing) v. sang or (now less commonly) sung, sung, sing·ing v.i.
1. To utter words or sounds with musical inflections of the voice.
2. To perform vocal compositions professionally or in a specified manner: She sings well.
3. To utter melodious sounds, as a bird.
4. To make a continuous, melodious sound suggestive of singing, as a teakettle, the wind, etc.
5. To buzz or hum; ring: My ears are singing.
6. To be suitable for singing.
7. To relate something in verse; hence, to compose poetry.
8. Slang To confess the details of a crime, and so implicate others.
—v.t.
9. To perform (a song, etc.) vocally.
10. To chant; intone.
11. To bring to a specified condition by singing: Sing me to sleep.
12. To accompany or escort with songs.
13. To acclaim or relate in or as in song: Generations sing his deeds.
—noun
1. The humming sound made by a bullet in flight.
2. Colloq. A social gathering at which songs are sung: a community sing. [OE singan]
—sing′a·ble adjective Synonyms (verb): carol, chant, chirp, chirrup, hum, warble. To sing is primarily and ordinarily to utter a succession of articulate musical sounds with the human voice. The word has come to include any succession of musical sounds; we say the bird or the rivulet sings, or the teakettle or the cricket sings. To chant is to sing in solemn and somewhat uniform cadence; chant is ordinarily applied to non–metrical religious compositions. To carol is to sing joyously, and to warble is to sing with trills or quavers, usually also with the idea of joy. Carol and warble are especially applied to the singing of birds. To chirp is to utter a brief musical sound, perhaps often repeated in the same way, as by certain small birds, insects, etc. To chirrup is to utter a somewhat similar sound; the word is often used of a brief sharp sound uttered as a signal to animate or rouse a horse or other animal. To hum is to utter murmuring sounds with somewhat monotonous musical cadence, usually with closed lips; we speak also of the hum of machinery, etc.