benumbment

benumbment

English

Etymology

benumb +‎ -ment

Noun

benumbment (usually uncountable, plural benumbments)

1. The act of benumbing, or state of being benumbed; torpor.
   • 1817, William Kirby, An Introduction to Entomology, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Volume 2, Letter 26, p. 442,

     The first cold weather, after insects have entered their winter quarters, produces effects upon them similar to those which occur in the dormouse, hedgehog, and other of the larger animals subject to torpor. At first a partial benumbment takes place; but the insect if touched is still capable of moving its organs.

   • 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld, New York: Scribner, Part 3, Chapter 3, p. 338,

     The pain was electric and compact, reducing everything to its own sort of benumbment, making the world beyond my head seem small and dazed.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for benumbment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)