noise

nounverbcommon in dialogue

//ˈnoɪ̯z//
//ˈnɔɪ̯z//

Various sounds, usually unwanted or unpleasant.

noun

1
Various sounds, usually unwanted or unpleasant.
He knew that it was trash day, when the garbage collectors made all the noise.
The heavens turn about in a most rapid motion without noise to us perceived.
Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.
2
Any sound.
The sudden noise made everyone jump.
She crept up behind him not making a noise.
3
Sound or signal generated by random fluctuations.
The complete flutter of the distant signal would probably so entirely destroy its identity that the crosstalk from it would be a substantially unintelligible noise.
4
Any part of a signal or data that reduces the clarity, precision, or quality of the desired output.
signal-to-noise ratio
On the technical side, the scanning and OCR of texts, in combination with the graphic design of high school text books, introduced a certain level of noise into the corpus which in turn led to a higher tagging error rate than usual and may affect count precision.
5
Variation or deviation generated by random fluctuations.
6
figurativeUnwanted fuss or bustle; useless activity.
In order to provide coherence and confidence, the leader must dramatically turn down the noise level in the organization, eliminate any unnecessary distractions that inevitably get in the way of execution, and banish the fear of uncertainty.
7
The measured level of variation in gene expression among cells, regardless of source, within a supposedly identical population.
8
Rumour or complaint.
The problems with the new computer system are causing a lot of noise at Head Office.
1709-1710, Thomas Baker, Reflections on Learning What noise have we had for fome Years about Transplantation of diseases and transfusion of blood!
He [Socrates] lived in Athens during the great plague, which has made so much noise through all ages.
9
informalSpeech that is suggestive of an attitude or opinion.
Despite encouraging noises made by politicians from time to time, the two sides there have never been further from an agreement.
10
obsoleteMusic, in general; a concert; also, a company of musicians; a band.
The king has his noise of gypsies.
That we on earth, with undiscording voice, / May rightly answer that melodious noise
11
A genre of rock music that uses static and other non-musical sounds, also influenced by art rock.

Etymology

From Middle English noyse, noise, from Old French noise (“a dispute, wrangle, strife, noise”), of uncertain origin. According to some, from Latin nausia, nausea (“disgust, nausea”); according to others, from Latin noxia (“hurt, harm, damage, injury”); but neither explanation is satisfactory in regard to either form or sense. Potentially a reduced form of Old French enoiier (“to bother, to disturb”), from Latin inodio (“to make repulsive”) - which would make it a doublet of English annoy (“to bother, to irritate”) and English ennui (“boredom, jadedness, depression”). Compare Piedmontese nojé (“to bother, to annoy”), though this fails to explain the final /z/. Displaced native Old English swēġ.

verb

1
To make a noise; to sound.
Those terrours, which thou speak'st of, did me none ; I never fear'd they could, though noising loud And threatening nigh
2
To spread news of; to spread as rumor or gossip.
When this was noysed aboute, the multitude cam togedder and were astonyed, because that every man herde them speake in his awne tongue.
This man then meeting with Chriſtian, and having ſome inckling of him, for Chriſtians ſetting forth from the City of Deſtruction was much noiſed abroad, not only in the Town, where he dwelt, but alſo it began to be the Town-talk in ſome other places.

Forms

plural: noises
past tense: noised
past participle: noised
present participle: noising
third person singular: noises

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noise · Various sounds, usually unwanted or unpleasant.

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The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.