Dumb \Dumb\, v. t.
To put to silence. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster] dumbbell
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dumb \Dumb\, a. [AS. dumb; akin to D. dom stupid, dumb, Sw.
dumb, Goth. dumbs; cf. Gr. ? blind. See Deaf, and cf.
Dummy.]
1. Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter
articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes.
[1913 Webster]
To unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures.
--Hooker.
[1913 Webster]
2. Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not
accompanied by words; as, dumb show.
[1913 Webster]
This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. --Shak.
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To pierce into the dumb past. -- J. C.
Shairp.
[1913 Webster]
3. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. [R.]
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Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
--De Foe.
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Deaf and dumb. See Deaf-mute.
Dumb ague, or Dumb chill, a form of intermittent fever
which has no well-defined "chill." [U.S.]
Dumb animal, any animal except man; -- usually restricted
to a domestic quadruped; -- so called in contradistinction
to man, who is a "speaking animal."
Dumb cake, a cake made in silence by girls on St. Mark's
eve, with certain mystic ceremonies, to discover their
future husbands. --Halliwell.
Dumb cane (Bot.), a west Indian plant of the Arum family
({Dieffenbachia seguina), which, when chewed, causes the
tongue to swell, and destroys temporarily the power of
speech.
Dumb crambo. See under crambo.
Dumb show.
(a) Formerly, a part of a dramatic representation, shown
in pantomime. "Inexplicable dumb shows and noise."
--Shak.
(b) Signs and gestures without words; as, to tell a story
in dumb show.
To strike dumb, to confound; to astonish; to render silent
by astonishment; or, it may be, to deprive of the power of
speech.
Syn: Silent; speechless; noiseless. See Mute.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
dumb
adj 1: slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity;
"so dense he never understands anything I say to him";
"never met anyone quite so dim"; "although dull at
classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly
quick"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really
dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or
being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow
students" [syn: dense, dim, dull, obtuse, slow]
2: unable to speak temporarily; "struck dumb"; "speechless with
shock" [syn: speechless]
3: lacking the power of human speech; "dumb animals"
4: unable to speak because of hereditary deafness [syn: mute,
silent]
WordNet (r) 2.0
191 Moby Thesaurus words for "dumb":
Boeotian, abiotic, anaudic, animal, animalian, animalic,
animalistic, aphasic, aphonic, apish, asinine, awkward, azoic,
batty, beastlike, beastly, beef-brained, beef-witted, befooled,
beguiled, besotted, bestial, blankminded, blockheaded, blockish,
bovine, brainless, breathless, brief, brusque, brutal, brute,
brutelike, brutish, buffoonish, callow, chumpish, cloddish, close,
close-tongued, closemouthed, cockeyed, concise, cowish, crass,
crazy, credulous, curt, daffy, daft, dazed, dense, dizzy, doltish,
doting, dull, dullard, dumbfounded, dumbstricken, dumbstruck,
duncical, duncish, economical of words, empty, empty-headed,
exanimate, fat, fatheaded, fatuitous, fatuous, flaky, fond, fool,
foolheaded, foolish, fuddled, futile, gaga, gauche, goofy, green,
groping, gross, gulled, idiotic, ignorant, imbecile, inane,
inanimate, inanimated, inarticulate, incoherent,
indisposed to talk, indistinct, ineducable, inept, inert,
inexperienced, infatuated, innocent, insane, insensate, insensible,
insentient, instinctive, instinctual, klutzy, know-nothing, kooky,
laconic, lifeless, loony, lumpish, mad, maudlin, maundering,
mindless, moronic, mum, mute, naive, nescient, nonconscious,
nonliving, nonrational, numskulled, nutty, oafish, opaque, quiet,
raw, reticent, sappy, screwy, senseless, sentimental, short,
silent, silly, simple, snug, sottish, soulless, sparing of words,
speechless, strange to, stricken dumb, stupid, subhuman, taciturn,
tentative, terse, thick, thick-witted, thoughtless, tight-lipped,
tongue-tied, tongueless, unacquainted, unanimated, unapprized,
uncommunicative, uncomprehending, unconscious, unconversant,
unenlightened, unfamiliar, unfeeling, unilluminated, uninformed,
uninitiated, unintelligent, unknowing, unloquacious, unposted,
unripe, unsure, untalkative, unteachable, unversed, vacuous,
voiceless, wacky, wet, witless, word-bound, wordless, wrongheaded,
zoic, zooidal, zoologic
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Dumb
from natural infirmity (Ex. 4:11); not knowing what to say
(Prov. 31:8); unwillingness to speak (Ps. 39:9; Lev. 10:3).
Christ repeatedly restored the dumb (Matt. 9:32, 33; Luke 11:14;
Matt. 12:22) to the use of speech.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
DUMB. One who cannot speak; a person who is mute. See Deaf and dumb, Deaf,
dumb, and blind; Mute, standing mute.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
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