hmhm.

n.  a minimal reply.

<Our conversation consists mainly of my own monologue.  His only response has been an occasional brief “Hmhm.”  —Elliot Turiel, The Culture of Morality: Social Development, Context, and Conflict.>

n.  a muffled attempt to say something witty.

<“Hmhm?” I riposte, sharp as a tack.  —David Nicholls, A Question of Attraction: A Novel.>

n.  the sound of clearing one’s throat.

<“Much to my regret, I have learned ...”  He cleared his throat.  Why did lying always give him such a lump in his throat?  “Hmhm, I have learned that the boys sneaked onto one of the large ferries that stop here regularly.”  —Cornelia Funke, The Thief Lord.>

hmhm hmhm.

n.  a noncommittal response, as in the novel A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.

HMHMHM-hmmhmm-hmmmhm—h—m—m.

n.  the sound of “a large piece of machinery somewhere off in the distance wind[ing] down, like a big saw blade spinning slower and slower till it stops,” as in It Takes a Village Idiot: A Memoir of Life After the City by Jim Mullen.

hmm.

adv.  yes, as in the novel The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

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