late 15c., echoic of bees and other insects. Aviation sense of "fly low and close" is by 1941 (see buzz (n.)). Related: Buzzed; buzzing. Buzz off (1914) originally meant "to ring off on the telephone," from the use of buzzers to signal a call or message on old systems. As a command, it originally would have been telling someone to get off the line.
"a busy rumour" [Rowe], 1620s (earlier "a fancy," c. 1600), figurative use from buzz (v.). Literal sense of "humming sound" is from 1640s. A "buzz" was the characteristic sound of an airplane in early 20c.; hence verbal sense "to fly swiftly," by 1928; by 1940 especially in military use, "to fly low over a surface as a warning signal" (for example that target practice is about to begin):
The patrol aircraft shall employ the method of warning known as "buzzing" which consists of low flight by the airplane and repeated opening and closing of the throttle. [1941 Supplement to the Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America," Chap. II, Corps of Engineers, War Department, p. 3434, etc. ]
Meaning "pleasant sense of intoxication" first recorded 1935. The children's game of counting off with 7 or multiples of it replaced by buzz is attested from 1864 and is mentioned in "Little Women" (1868). To give (someone) a buzz (by 1922) is from the buzz that announced a call on old telephone systems.
双语例句
1. Hundreds of flies buzz around us, and the workman keeps swatting them.
数百只苍蝇围着我们转，工作人员不停地拍打。
来自柯林斯例句
2. And I'll buzz over to talk some sense into old Ocker.
我会不厌其烦地给那个固执己见的澳大利亚老头讲道理。
来自柯林斯例句
3. We'll give him a buzz when we get to Maybury Street.
我们到了梅贝里街的时候会给他打电话.
来自柯林斯例句
4. "There's no buzz, there's no oomph about the place," he complained.
