adjective
1.
deprived of physical sensation or the ability to move: fingers numb with cold.
2.
manifesting or resembling numbness: a numb sensation.
3.
incapable of action or of feeling emotion; enervated; prostrate: numb with grief.
4.
lacking or deficient in emotion or feeling; indifferent: She was numb to their pleas for mercy.
verb (used with object)
5.
to make numb.
00:10
Numb
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is yaff. Does it mean:
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
| to bark; yelp. |
Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English nome literally, taken, seized, variant of nomen, numen, Old English numen, past participle of niman to take, nim1
1400–50; late Middle English nome literally, taken, seized, variant of nomen, numen, Old English numen, past participle of niman to take, nim1
Related forms
numb·ly, adverb
numb·ness, noun
half-numb, adjective
un·numbed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To numb
Collins
World English Dictionary
numb (nʌm) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | deprived of feeling through cold, shock, etc |
| 2. | unable to move; paralysed |
| 3. | characteristic of or resembling numbness: a numb sensation |
| —vb | |
| 4. | to make numb; deaden, shock, or paralyse |
| [C15: nomen, literally: taken (with paralysis), from Old English niman to take; related to Old Norse nema, Old High German niman] | |
| 'numbly | |
| —adv | |
| 'numbness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
numb
mid-15c., nome, lit. "taken, seized," from pp. of nimen "to take, seize," from O.E. niman "to take" (see nimble). The extraneous -b (to conform to comb, limb, etc.) appeared 17c. The notion is of being "taken" with palsy, shock, and especially cold. The verb is from c.1600.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
numb (nŭm)
adj.
Being unable or only partially able to feel sensation or pain; deadened or anesthetized.
Being emotionally unresponsive; indifferent.
To make or become numb.
numb'ness n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
The doctor will inject your spine with medicine to make you numb from your waist down.
The doctor will inject a special solution into your vein to numb it.
Seeing them in print now has that vague quality of the numb haze after too much wine the late night before.
Only the part of your body being worked on will be made numb with medicine so that you will not feel pain.
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