Word.ws English Dictionary

sang small

sang small is the simple past of sing small.

Meaning of sing small

Verb

sing small (third-person singular simple present sings small, present participle singing small, simple past sang small, past participle sung small)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To assume a humble tone.
    • By all that's good, I muſt myſelf ſing ſmall in her company!—I vvill never meet at hard-edge vvith her— […]1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVII. Miss Byron. In Continuation.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume I, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C....
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To not say anything; to keep quiet.
    • Deutschland sleeps: her star has waned. / France, the Thundress whilome, now / Singeth small, with bated breath.a. 1850 (date written), James Clarence Mangan, “An Invitation”, in Poems […], New York, N.Y.: P. M. Haverty, […], published 1859, →OCLC, page 436
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To play a minor part.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete, singing) To sing softly.
    • [A]re not moſt of our kings being vvhen they ſing ſmall and fine, after a puling maner, ſaluted Apolloes for their muſicke: […]1603, Plutarch, “How a Man may Discerne a Flatterer from a Friend”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, pages 93–94

Questions about sang small

What is sang small the simple past of?
Sang small is the simple past of sing small.

Words near sang small in the dictionary

  1. sang Kumbaya
  2. sang like a bird
  3. sang like a canary
  4. sang off the same hymn sheet
  5. sang out
  6. sang small
  7. sang soprano
  8. sang the praises of
  9. sang the same tune
  10. sang up
  11. sang wenhua

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sang small (page history and authors); sing small (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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