Nearby Words

numbing

[nuhm-ing] Origin

numb·ing

[nuhm-ing]
adjective
causing numbness or insensibility; stupefying: the numbing effects of grief; a story repeated with numbing regularity.

Origin:
1625–35; numb + -ing2

numb·ing·ly, adverb

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Numbing is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

numb

[nuhm] adjective -er, -est, verb
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.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English nome literally, taken, seized, variant of nomen, numen, Old English numen, past participle of niman to take, nim1

numb·ly, adverb
numb·ness, noun
half-numb, adjective
un·numbed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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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.

  1. Being unable or only partially able to feel sensation or pain; deadened or anesthetized.

  2. Being emotionally unresponsive; indifferent.

v. numbed, numb·ing, numbs
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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