Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Humble \Hum"ble\, a. [Compar. {Humbler}; superl. {Humblest}.]
[F., fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth,
ground. See {Homage}, and cf. {Chameleon}, {Humiliate}.]
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. --Washington.
{Humble plant} (Bot.), 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}. --Halliwell. --Thackeray.
Source : WordNet®
humble plant
n : prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and
Australia; heavily armed with recurved thorns and having
sensitive soft gray-green leaflets that fold and droop at
night or when touched or cooled [syn: {sensitive plant},
{touch-me-not}, {shame plant}, {live-and-die}, {action
plant}, {Mimosa pudica}]