Hypertext Webster Gateway: "dumb"

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 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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}.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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}]


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