Humble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Humbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Humbling.]
1. To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes. Shak. The genius which humbled six marshals of France. Macaulay.
2. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive; -- often used rexlexively. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. 1 Pet. v. 6.
Syn. -- To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Humble, a. [Compar. Humbler; superl. Humblest.]
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.
Humble, a.
Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.]
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for humble; he lists it under abase, abash, chasten, conquer.
Where he writes about it:
Humble in present use refers chiefly to feeling of heart; humiliate to outward conditions; even when one is said to humble himself, he either has or affects to have humility of heart. — from abase