( US humor )
■ noun
1》 the quality of being amusing, especially as expressed in literature or speech.
↘the ability to appreciate or express ~.
2》 a state of mind: her good ~ vanished.
↘ archaic an inclination or whim.
3》 (also cardinal ~ ) historical each of four fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile or choler, and black bile or melancholy), formerly thought to determine a person's physical and mental qualities.
■ verb comply with the wishes or whims of.
Phrases
out of ~ in a bad mood.
Derivatives
~less adjective
~lessly adverb
~lessness noun
Word History
The word ~ entered English from Old French in the 14th century. Ultimately it comes from Latin humor 'moisture', from humere 'be moist' ( humid is from the same root). The original sense in English was 'bodily fluid', surviving today in the medical terms aqueous ~ and vitreous ~ , fluids present in the eyeball. In the Middle Ages it was believed that the relative proportions of the four bodily fluids known as the cardinal ~s , namely blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy, affected a person's general physical and mental health. This idea led, in the 16th century, to the use of ~ in the senses 'mood' and 'whim', with the current primary sense becoming established by the end of that century.