online medical dictionary | definition of humble

1. Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage. "THy humble nest built on the ground." (Cowley)

2. 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; waek; modest. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (Jas. Iv. 6) "She should be humble who would please." (Prior) "Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . Religion we can never hope to be a happy nation.

<botany>" (Washington) Humble plant, a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (M. Sensitiva). To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humilitation; 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.

Origin: F, fr. L. Humilis on the ground, low, fr. Humus the earth, ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate.

(01 Mar 1998)