croon

From Middle Dutch kronen (“to groan, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *kre-, from Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹuːn/
• Rhymes: -uːn

croon (third-person singular simple present croons, present participle crooning, simple past and past participle crooned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To hum or sing softly or in a sentimental manner.
   • Charlotte Brontë

     hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise

2. (transitive) To soothe by singing softly.
   • Charles Dickens

     The fragment of the childish hymn with which he sung and crooned himself asleep.

3. (Scotland) To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)

• crooner

croon (plural croons)

1. A soft or sentimental hum or song.
   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     And really, Michael Jackson is a more fitting aspiration for the similarly sexless would-be-former teen heartthrob, who’s compared himself to the late King Of Pop (perhaps a bit prematurely) on several occasions and sings in a Jackson-like croon over a sample of “We’ve Got A Good Thing Going” on Believe’s “Die In Your Arms.”

• Conor, Norco, corno, r'coon