Dumb

6 definitions found

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

  Dumb \Dumb\, v. t.
     To put to silence. [Obs.] --Shak.
     [1913 Webster] dumbbell

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



  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To pierce into the dumb past.         -- J. C.
                                                    Shairp.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
                                                    --De Foe.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

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

  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
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  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.
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DUMB. One who cannot speak; a person who is mute. See Deaf and dumb, Deaf, 
  dumb, and blind; Mute, standing mute.