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单词 dumb
释义

dumb

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dʌm/
  • Rhymes: -ʌm
  • Audio (CA)(file)

Etymology 1

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”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”). See also deaf.

Adjective

dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)

  1. (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech (kept in "deaf, dumb, and blind").
    Synonyms: mute, speechless, wordless
    His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
    • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, OCLC 931154958, (please specify the page):
      to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
    • 1884 January 5, W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music), “Mighty maiden with a mission”, in Princess Ida‎, London, performed by D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, page 48:
      We are dumb and we would talk
  2. (dated) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
    dumb show
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv]:
      Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak
      In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 23”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634:
      O let my books be then the eloquence
      And dumb presagers of my speaking breast […]
    • 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 2, in Original Stories from Real Life (Children's literature), 1796 printing edition, London: J. Johnson, page 10–11:
      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...
    • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry
      to pierce into the dumb past
  3. (informal, derogatory, especially of a person) Extremely stupid.
    Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid
    You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!
  4. (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
    Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar
    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.
  5. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
    • 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton
      Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
Derived terms
  • a dumb priest never got a parish
  • deaf and dumb
  • dumb as a bag of hammers
  • dumb as a box of rocks
  • dumb as a brick
  • dumb as a doorknob
  • dumb as a doornail
  • dumb as an ox
  • dumb as a post
  • dumb as a rock
  • dumb as a sack of hammers
  • dumb as a stump
  • dumb as dirt
  • dumb as nails
  • dumb-ass
  • dumb ass
  • dumb barge
  • dumb-bell
  • dumbbell
  • dumb blond
  • dumb bomb
  • dumb bunny
  • dumb cake
  • dumb cancel
  • dumb cane
  • dumb cluck
  • dumb crambo
  • dumb cunt
  • dumben
  • dumb fuck
  • dumb fucker
  • dumb genius
  • dumb hole
  • dumbhood
  • dumb insolence
  • dumb like a fox
  • dumb luck
  • dumbly
  • dumb money
  • dumb muscle
  • dumbness
  • dumb network
  • dumb out
  • dumb piano
  • dumb pipe
  • dumb quotes
  • dumb shit
  • dumb-shit
  • dumb show
  • dumb spinet
  • dumbstruck
  • dumb tax
  • dumb TV
  • dumb waiter
  • dumbwaiter
  • dumb-waiter
  • dummy
  • rock-dumb
  • strike dumb
  • undumb
Translations
unable to speak — see mute
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Middle English dumben, from Old English dumbian (more commonly in compound ādumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijaną, *dumbōną (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).

Verb

dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)

  1. (dated) To silence.
    • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v]:
      […] what I would have spoke
      Was beastly dumbed by him.
    • 1911, Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison, page 272:
      The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
  2. (transitive) To make stupid.
    • 2003, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice, page 124:
      I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
  3. (transitive) To represent as stupid.
    • 2004, Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa, page 107:
      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.
  4. (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.
    • 2002, Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing, page 126:
      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.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective or verb "dumb"
  • bedumb
  • dumbness
  • dumb blonde
  • dumb down
  • dumbocracy
  • dumb-show
  • dumb terminal
  • dummy
  • play dumb

Middle English

Alternative forms

  • domb, doumb, dowmb, dom, domm, dum, doum, dowm, domp, doump

Etymology

From Old English dumb.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdum(b)/, /ˈduːm(b)/

Adjective

dumb (plural and weak singular dumbe)

  1. Lacking or failing to display the faculty of voice:
    1. Unspeaking; unable to speak or having muteness.
    2. (substantive) A mute; one who can't speak.
    3. Temporarily unable to speak due to strong emotions.
    4. Unwilling or reluctant to speak; not speaking.
  2. Powerless, ineffectual (either inherently or due to events)
  3. Unknowledgeable; having no understanding or sense.
  4. (of animals) Unwilling or unable to make a noise; quiet or silent.
  5. (rare) Unrevealing, useless; having no important messages or lessons.
  6. (rare) Having nothing to keep one busy or engaged.
  7. (rare, figurative) Refusing to preach or evangelise.
  8. (rare, figurative) Refusing to be conceited or vainglorious.

Derived terms

  • dombenesse
  • dumben

Descendants

  • English: dumb
  • Scots: dumb

References

  • “dǒmb, dǒumb, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-27.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *dumb.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dumb/

Adjective

dumb

  1. mute, dumb (unable to speak)
  2. (substantive) a mute
    • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 11:14
      Þā hē ūt ādrāf þā dēofolsēocnesse, þā spræc se dumba.
      When he drove out the demon, the mute person spoke.

Declension

Declension of dumb — Strong
SingularMasculineFeminineNeuter
Nominativedumbdumbdumb
Accusativedumbnedumbedumb
Genitivedumbesdumbredumbes
Dativedumbumdumbredumbum
Instrumentaldumbedumbredumbe
PluralMasculineFeminineNeuter
Nominativedumbedumba, dumbedumb
Accusativedumbedumba, dumbedumb
Genitivedumbradumbradumbra
Dativedumbumdumbumdumbum
Instrumentaldumbumdumbumdumbum
Declension of dumb — Weak
SingularMasculineFeminineNeuter
Nominativedumbadumbedumbe
Accusativedumbandumbandumbe
Genitivedumbandumbandumban
Dativedumbandumbandumban
Instrumentaldumbandumbandumban
PluralMasculineFeminineNeuter
Nominativedumbandumbandumban
Accusativedumbandumbandumban
Genitivedumbra, dumbenadumbra, dumbenadumbra, dumbena
Dativedumbumdumbumdumbum
Instrumentaldumbumdumbumdumbum
  • dumbnes

Descendants

  • Middle English: dumb
    • Scots: dumb
    • English: dumb
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