rumour
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English
Etymology
From Middle English rumour, from Old French rumour, rumor, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *rewH- (“to shout, roar”).
Pronunciation
- * (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɹuːmə(ɹ)/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹuːmɚ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -uːmə(ɹ)
Noun
rumour (countable and uncountable, plural rumours)
- British, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland spelling of rumor
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC:
- Rumour had it (though not proved) that she descended from the house of the lords Talbot de Malahide
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- There were rumours, new rumours every morning, delightful and outrageous rumours, so that the lumps in the porridge were swallowed without comment and the fish-cakes were eaten without contumely.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, →OCLC, page 26:
- Dame Rumour outstrides me yet again.
- 1969, Peter Vansittart, Pastimes of a Red Summer: A Novel, Owen, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 140:
- I myself gave support to the summoning of the Estates General ... as merely mistaken . Similarly it might be held that Paradise originated in a rumour invented in hell to make society the more interesting . ' ' We need a saviour .
- (obsolete) A prolonged, indistinct noise.
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 18:
- Prithee, listen well; / I heard a bustling rumour like a fray, / And the wind brings it from the Capitol.
Verb
rumour (third-person singular simple present rumours, present participle rumouring, simple past and past participle rumoured)
- Commonwealth standard spelling of rumor.
- 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Drastic cuts in Scotland?”, in Trains Illustrated, page 644:
- Two of the four main routes over the Border were rumoured to be threatened with withdrawal of, or heavy cuts in, passenger services.