Adjacent Words

Dumb definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DUMB, a. Dum.
1. Mute; silent; not speaking.
I was dumb with silence; I held my peace. Psalms 34.
2. Destitute of the power of speech; unable to utter articulate sounds; as the dumb brutes. The asylum at Hartford in Connecticut was the first institution in America for teaching the deaf and dumb to read and write.
3. Mute; not using or accompanied with speech; as a dumb show; dumb signs.
To strike dumb, is to confound; to astonish; to render silent by astonishment; or it may be, to deprive of the power of speech.
DUMB, v.t. To silence.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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, dumb, obtuse, slow]
2: temporarily incapable of speaking; "struck dumb"; "speechless with shock" [syn: speechless, dumb]
3: lacking the power of human speech; "dumb animals"
4: unable to speak because of hereditary deafness [syn: dumb, mute, silent]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German tumb mute Date: before 12th century 1. a. lacking the human power of speech <dumb animals> b. of a person, often offensive lacking the ability to speak 2. temporarily unable to speak (as from shock or astonishment) <struck dumb with fear> 3. not expressed in uttered words <dumb grief> 4. silent; also taciturn 5. lacking some usual attribute or accompaniment; especially having no means of self-propulsion <a dumb barge> 6. a. lacking intelligence ; stupid b. showing a lack of intelligence <asking dumb questions> c. requiring no intelligence <dumb luck> 7. not having the capability to process data <a dumb terminal> — compare intelligent 3a Synonyms: see stupid • dumbly adverb • dumbness noun Usage: There is evidence that, when applied to persons who cannot speak, dumb has come to be considered offensive. II. transitive verb Date: 1607 to make silent ; deaden <would lie around, dumbed by the drugs — Norman Mailer>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 a (of a person) unable to speak, usu. because of a congenital defect or deafness. b (of an animal) naturally unable to speak (our dumb friends). 2 silenced by surprise, shyness, etc. (struck dumb by this revelation). 3 taciturn or reticent, esp. insultingly (dumb insolence). 4 (of an action etc.) performed without speech. 5 (often in comb.) giving no sound; without voice or some other property normally belonging to things of the name (a dumb piano). 6 colloq. esp. US stupid; ignorant. 7 (usu. of a class, population, etc.) having no voice in government; inarticulate (the dumb masses). 8 (of a computer terminal etc.) able only to transmit data to or receive data from a computer; not programmable (opp. INTELLIGENT). Phrases and idioms: dumb animals animals, esp. as objects of pity. dumb-bell 1 a short bar with a weight at each end, used for exercise, muscle-building, etc. 2 sl. a stupid person, esp. a woman. dumb blonde a pretty but stupid blonde woman. dumb cluck sl. a stupid person. dumb crambo see CRAMBO. dumb-iron the curved side-piece of a motor-vehicle chassis, joining it to the front springs. dumb piano Mus. a silent or dummy keyboard. dumb show 1 significant gestures or mime, used when words are inappropriate. 2 a part of a play in early drama, acted in mime. dumb waiter 1 a small lift for carrying food, plates, etc., between floors. 2 a movable table, esp. with revolving shelves, used in a dining-room. Derivatives: dumbly adv. dumbness n. Etymology: OE: orig. unkn.: sense 6 f. G dumm

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dumb Dumb, v. t. To put to silence. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. To unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures. --Hooker. 2. Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not accompanied by words; as, dumb show. This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. --Shak. To pierce into the dumb past. -- J. C. Shairp. 3. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. [R.] Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color. --De Foe. 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dumber, dumbest, dumbs dumbing dumbed) 1. Someone who is dumb is completely unable to speak. ...a young deaf and dumb man. = mute ADJ 2. If someone is dumb on a particular occasion, they cannot speak because they are angry, shocked, or surprised. (LITERARY) We were all struck dumb for a minute. = speechless ADJ: v-link ADJ • dumbly I shook my head dumbly, not believing him. ADV: ADV with v 3. If you call a person dumb, you mean that they are stupid or foolish. (INFORMAL) The questions were set up to make her look dumb. ADJ [disapproval] 4. If you say that something is dumb, you think that it is silly and annoying. (AM INFORMAL) I came up with this dumb idea... = stupid ADJ [disapproval]

Easton's Bible Dictionary

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.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dum (alam, 'illem, literally, "tied in the tongue"; kophos): Used either as expressing the physical condition of speechlessness, generally associated with deafness, or figuratively as meaning the silence produced by the weight of God's judgments (Ps 39:2-9; Da 10:15) or the oppression of external calamity (Ps 38:13). As an adjective it is used to characterize inefficient teachers destitute of spirituality ("dumb dogs," Isa 56:10). The speechlessness of Saul's companions (Ac 9:7) was due to fright; that of the man without the wedding garment was because he had no excuse to give (Mt 22:12). Idols are called mute, because helpless and voiceless (Hab 2:18,19; 1Co 12:2). The dumbness of the sheep before the shearer is a token of submission (Isa 53:7; Ac 8:32).

Temporary dumbness was inflicted as a sign upon Ezekiel (3:26; 24:27; 33:22) and as a punishment for unbelief upon Zacharias (Lu 1:22). There are several cases recorded of our Lord's healing the dumb (Mt 15:30; Mr 7:37; Lu 11:14, etc.). Dumbness is often associated with imbecility and was therefore regarded as due to demoniac possession (Mt 9:32; 12:22). The evangelists therefore describe the healing of these as effected by the casting out of demons.

This is especially noted in the case of the epileptic boy (Mr 9:17). The deaf man with the impediment in his speech (Mr 7:32) is said to have been cured by loosening the string of his tongue. This does not necessarily mean that he was tongue- tied, which is a condition causing lisping, not stammering; he was probably one of those deaf persons who produce babbling, incoherent and meaningless sounds. I saw in the asylum in Jerusalem a child born blind and deaf, who though dumb, produced inarticulate noises.

In an old 14th-century psalter "dumb" is used as a verb in Ps 39: "I doumbed and meked and was ful stille."

Alexander Macalister

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Unable to speak, incapable of speech. 2. Mute, speechless, silent.

Moby Thesaurus

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