From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
humble
adj 1: low or inferior in station or quality; "a humble cottage";
"a lowly parish priest"; "a modest man of the people";
"small beginnings" [syn: low, lowly, modest,
small]
2: marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful; "a
humble apology"; "essentially humble...and self-effacing,
he achieved the highest formal honors and distinctions"-
B.K.Malinowski [ant: proud]
3: used of unskilled work (especially domestic work) [syn:
menial, lowly]
4: of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense);
"baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or
lowly) birth" [syn: base, baseborn, lowly]
v 1: cause to be unpretentious; "This experience will humble him"
2: cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of; "He humiliated his
colleague by criticising him in front of the boss" [syn:
humiliate, mortify, chagrin, abase]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Humble \Hum"ble\ (h[u^]m"b'l; 277), a. [Compar. Humbler
(h[u^]m"bl[~e]r); superl. Humblest (h[u^]m"bl[e^]st).] [F.,
fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth,
ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate.]
1. Near the ground; not high or lofty.
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Thy humble nest built on the ground. --Cowley.
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2. Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming;
modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects.
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3. Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's
self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's
self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands
of God; lowly; weak; modest. Used to describe people.
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God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble. --Jas. iv. 6.
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She should be humble who would please. --Prior.
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Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of
our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy
nation. --Washington.
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Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the
genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva).
To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or
apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or
humiliation; -- a phrase derived from a pie made of the
entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served
to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See
Humbles. --Halliwell. --Thackeray.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Humble \Hum"ble\, a.
Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.]
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Humble \Hum"ble\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Humbled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Humbling.]
1. To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or
exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate.
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Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's
plagues
Have humbled to all strokes. --Shak.
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The genius which humbled six marshals of France.
--Macaulay.
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2. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or
arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make
meek and submissive; -- often used rexlexively.
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Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you. --1 Pet. v. 6.
Syn: To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace;
degrade.
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