Dulling

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Dull \Dull\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Duller}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Dulling}.]
     1. To deprive of sharpness of edge or point. "This . . .
        dulled their swords." --Bacon.
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              Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. --Shak.
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     2. To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the
        senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.
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              Those [drugs] she has
              Will stupefy and dull the sense a while. --Shak.
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              Use and custom have so dulled our eyes. --Trench.
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     3. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish. "Dulls the
        mirror." --Bacon.
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     4. To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to
        make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.
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              Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through
              continuance.                          --Hooker.
        [1913 Webster]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "dulling":
     abating, allaying, alleviating, alleviative, analgesic, anesthetic,
     anodyne, assuaging, assuasive, balmy, balsamic, benumbing,
     blunting, cathartic, chastening, cleansing, cushioning, dampening,
     damping, deadening, demulcent, diminishing, easing, emollient,
     lenitive, lessening, mitigating, mitigative, narcotic, numbing,
     pain-killing, palliative, purgative, reducing, relaxing, relieving,
     remedial, softening, soothing, stunning, stupefying, subduing,
     tempering