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Dumb - 7 dictionary results
dumb
[duhm] 
adjective, -er, -est, verb –adjective
—Verb phrase| 1. | lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted. |
| 2. | lacking the power of speech (often offensive when applied to humans): a dumb animal. |
| 3. | temporarily unable to speak: dumb with astonishment. |
| 4. | refraining from any or much speech; silent. |
| 5. | made, done, etc., without speech. |
| 6. | lacking some usual property, characteristic, etc. |
| 7. | performed in pantomime; mimed. |
| 8. | Computers. pertaining to the inability to do processing locally: A dumb terminal can input, output, and display data, but cannot process it. Compare intelligent (def. 4). |
| 9. | Nautical.
|
| 10. | dumb down, Informal. to make or become less intellectual, simpler, or less sophisticated: to dumb down a textbook; American movies have dumbed down. |
Origin:
bef. 1000; OE; c. ON dumbr, Goth dumbs, OS dumb, OHG tump, G dumm
bef. 1000; OE; c. ON dumbr, Goth dumbs, OS dumb, OHG tump, G dumm
Related forms:
dumbly, adverb
dumbness, noun
Synonyms:
2, 3. Dumb, mute, speechless, voiceless describe a condition in which speech is absent. Dumb was formerly used to refer to persons unable to speak; it is now used almost entirely of the inability of animals to speak: dumb beasts of the field. The term mute is applied to persons who, usually because of congenital deafness, have never learned to talk: With training most mutes learn to speak well enough to be understood. Either of the foregoing terms or speechless may describe a temporary inability to speak, caused by emotion, etc.: dumb with amazement; mute with terror; left speechless by surprise. Voiceless means literally having no voice, either from natural causes or from injury: Turtles are voiceless. A laryngectomy leaves a person voiceless until he or she has learned esophageal speech.
2, 3. Dumb, mute, speechless, voiceless describe a condition in which speech is absent. Dumb was formerly used to refer to persons unable to speak; it is now used almost entirely of the inability of animals to speak: dumb beasts of the field. The term mute is applied to persons who, usually because of congenital deafness, have never learned to talk: With training most mutes learn to speak well enough to be understood. Either of the foregoing terms or speechless may describe a temporary inability to speak, caused by emotion, etc.: dumb with amazement; mute with terror; left speechless by surprise. Voiceless means literally having no voice, either from natural causes or from injury: Turtles are voiceless. A laryngectomy leaves a person voiceless until he or she has learned esophageal speech.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To Dumb
| dumb (dŭm) adj. dumb·er, dumb·est
To make silent or dumb. Phrasal Verb(s): dumb down/up Slang To rewrite for a less educated or less sophisticated audience. [Middle English, from Old English.] dumb'ly adv., dumb'ness n. Our Living Language : In ordinary spoken English, a sentence such as He is dumb will be interpreted to mean "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech." "Lacking the power of speech" is, however, the original sense of the word, but it has been eclipsed by the meaning "stupid." For this change in meaning, it appears that the Germans are responsible. German has a similar and related word dumm that means "stupid," and over time, as a result of the waves of German immigrants to the United States, it has come to influence the meaning of English dumb. This is one of dozens of marks left by German on American English. Some words, like kindergarten, dachshund, and schnapps still have a German feel or are associated to some extent with Germany, but others, like bum, cookbook, fresh (in the meaning "impertinent"), rifle, and noodle have become so thoroughly Americanized their German origins may surprise some. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.Dumb
Dumb\, v. t. To put to silence. [Obs.] --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Dumb
Spanish:
mudo,
German:
stumm, sprachlos,
Japanese:
口のきけない
dumb
O.E. dumb "silent, unable to speak," from PIE *dheubh- "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness." O.E., Goth. (thumb) and O.N. (dumbr) forms meant only "mute, speechless;" in O.H.G. (thumb) it meant both this and "stupid," and in Mod.Ger. this latter became the only sense. Meaning "foolish, ignorant" was occasionally in Eng. from c.1323, but modern use (1823) comes from infl. of Ger. dumm. Applied to silent contrivances, hence dumbwaiter (1749). To dumb down is from 1933.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: dumb
Pronunciation: 'd&m
Function: adjective
1 : lacking the power of speech
2 : naturally incapable of speech <dumb animals> —dumb·ly /'d&m-lE/ adverb —dumb·ness noun
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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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
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