Definition of "buzz"

buzz

/bʌz/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural buzzes
1. A continuous humming noise, as of bees; a confused murmur, as of general conversation in low tones.
  Quotations
  In the steady buzz of flies the homeward-bound agent was lying flushed and insensible[.]
  1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], part I, page 209
2. A whisper.
3. The audible friction of voiced consonants.
4. (informal) A rush or feeling of energy or excitement; a feeling of slight intoxication.
5. (informal) A telephone call or e-mail.
  Quotations
  Now, don't waste time, give us a buzz -- quick! 825-4703 or 265-7881.
  1983 April 9, “Clearly Womyn's Space (classified advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 15
6. (informal) Major topic of conversation; widespread rumor; information spread behind the scenes.
  Quotations
  Mr. Hall? The buzz on Christian is that his parents have joint custody, so he'll be spending one semester in Chicago and one semester here.
  1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone)
  I wasn't performing with Pimp and Smoove that much no more, but I had a solo deal with Ruthless Rap and a brand new mixtape that was creating a big buzz.
  2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 103
  In Detroit, the buzz is that he's too nice a guy, unwilling to impose draconian job cuts at the risk of angering the UAW.
  2006 September 6, Daren Fonda, “Ford Motor's New Chief: "I Think It's a Tough Situation"”, in Time
  Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Who's he? / Patrick: He's only the most popular kid in school. / Allen Gregory: Ah, the two heavyweights finally meet. Sure you're tired of all the buzz. Allen Gregory DeLongpre. / Joel Zadak: Joel...Zadak!
  2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)
7. (uncountable) Synonym of fizz-buzz (“counting game”)
verb
third-person singular simple present buzzes, present participle buzzing, simple past and past participle buzzed
1. (intransitive) To make a low, continuous, humming or sibilant sound, like that made by bees with their wings.
  Quotations
  Ah! the singing, fatal arrow, / Like a wasp it buzzed, and stung him [a roebuck]!
  1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Hiawatha’s Childhood”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, page 47
  So that now the universe has escaped from the pin which was pushed through it, like an impaled fly vainly buzzing: now that the multiple universe flies its own complicated course quite free, and hasn't got any hub, we can hope also to escape.
  1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Holy Family”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, page 14
  1. (by extension) To utter a murmuring sound; to speak with a low, humming voice.
    Quotations
    However these disturbers of our peace / Buzz in the people's ears.
    c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iv]
  2. Of a group of people, to talk about some interesting topic excitedly.
    Quotations
    But I tell you this has set all London buzzing. The old man is where he likes to be, with a pin-point limelight right on his hairy old head.
    1928 February 25 – March 3, Arthur Conan Doyle, “When the World Screamed”, in The Professor Challenger Stories […], London: John Murray, […], published , page 570
  3. (chiefly of an insect) To fly while making such a sound.
    Quotations
    The flies, lethargic with the autumn, were beginning to buzz into the room.
    1897, Bram Stoker, chapter XX, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library
2. (colloquial) To show a high level of activity and haste, energization or excitement, to be busy as a bee in one’s actions but perhaps mentally charged.
3. (transitive) To whisper; to communicate, as tales, in an undertone; to spread, as a report, by whispers or secretly.
  Quotations
  I will buzz abroad such prophecies / That Edward shall be fearful of his life.
  c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene vi]
4. (transitive) To talk to incessantly or confidentially in a low humming voice.
5. (aviation) To fly at high speed and at a very low altitude over a specified area, as to make a surprise pass.
  Quotations
  […] an asteroid a mere 15-20 metres across exploded with the force of a medium-sized atom bomb over Chelyabinsk, in Russia, and another, much larger one buzzed Earth a few hours later.
  2013, The Economist, Stopping asteroid strikes: Defenders of the Earth‎
6. (transitive) To cut the hair in a close-cropped military style, or buzzcut.
  Quotations
  Deacon said, “You used to beg me to let you buzz your hair when you were little.” “And then I grew up and realized how awful you looked when you buzzed yours.”
  2012, Ellen Hartman, Out of Bounds, page 130
7. (archaic, transitive) To drink to the bottom.
  Quotations
  He buzzed the bottle with such a hearty good will as settled the fate of another, which Soapey rang for as a matter of course. There was but the rejected one, which however Spigot put into a different decanter and brought in […]
  1849, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register
8. (transitive) To communicate with (a person) by means of a buzzer.
  Quotations
  Then one day my secretary buzzed me and said Frank Sinatra was on the phone. When I picked up the phone it was the Chief who played dumb and would not admit that he said he was Frank Sinatra.
  2012, Steven Joseph Sinopoli, The Seventh House, page 66

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