dumb
Part of speech: adj
verb
adv
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).
The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots dumb (“dumb, silent”), North Frisian dom, domme (“dumb, stupid”), West Frisian dom (“dumb, stupid”), Dutch dom (“dumb, stupid”), German dumm (“dumb, stupid”), Danish dum (“stupid”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”). See also deaf.
Inflected forms:
form: dumber
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: dumbest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: dumbs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: dumbing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: dumbed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: dumbed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
pos: adj
tags: dated
examples: deaf, dumb, and blind
His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
The country people frequently ſay,—How can you treat a poor dumb beaſt ill; and a ſtreſs is very properly laid on the word dumb; for dumb they appear to thoſe who do not obſerve their looks and geſtures; but God, who takes care of every thing, underſtands their language...
We are dumb and we would talk
It is true, there is Turkish of which I had picked up a few phrases, and there is Chinese of which I did not understand a single word. But I had no fear of remaining dumb in Turkestan and the Celestial Empire.
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow / What you need is someone strong to guide you
gloss: Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
gloss: Having no input or voice in running things.
pos: adj
tags: dated
examples: Life was never a May-game for men; in all times the lot of the dumb-millions born to toil was defaced with manifold sufferings, injustices, heavy burdens, avoidable and unavoidable; not play at all, but hard work that made the sinews sore, and the heart sore.
gloss: Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless.
pos: adj
tags: dated
usually
examples: dumb show
Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak
In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts
O let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast […]
to pierce into the dumb past
gloss: Not producing any sound, silent.
pos: adj
tags: dated
examples: […] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb;
⁠But all the lavish hills would hum
The murmur of a happy Pan: […]
gloss: Stupid.
pos: adj
tags: derogatory
especially
informal
examples: You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!
gloss: Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
gloss: Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
pos: adj
gloss: Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.
pos: adj
gloss: Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
rare
examples: Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
gloss: To silence.
pos: verb
tags: dated
transitive
examples: […] what I would have spoke
Was beastly dumbed by him.
The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
gloss: To make stupid.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
gloss: To represent as stupid.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Bad-mouthing Neanderthals […] is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. […] I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
gloss: To reduce the intellectual demands of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.
gloss: Very, extremely.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: "What, you don't like your food?" Russo asks. ¶ "Are you kidding? It's dumb good."
Yo this shit is crazy how these females are making these doctors rich. My baby moms Miracle is getting surgery in a week or so. She's flying out to Colombia. That shit really baffles me as far as she's concerned, because Miracle is already dumb thick. I'm like damn ma, how big do you want your ass to be?
Translations: