dumb

views updated May 18 2018

dumb / dəm/ • adj. 1. chiefly offens. (of a person) unable to speak, most typically because of congenital deafness: he was born deaf, dumb, and blind. ∎  (of animals) unable to speak as a natural state and thus regarded as helpless or deserving pity. ∎  temporarily unable or unwilling to speak: she stood dumb while he poured out a stream of abuse. ∎  resulting in or expressed by speechlessness: they stared in dumb amazement.2. inf. stupid: a dumb question. ∎  (of a computer terminal) able only to transmit data to or receive data from a computer; having no independent processing capability. Often contrasted with intelligent.• v. [tr.] 1. (dumb something down) inf. simplify or reduce the intellectual content of something so as to make it accessible to a larger number of people: critics have accused publishers of dumbing down books. ∎  [intr.] (dumb down) become less intellectually challenging: the need to dumb down for mass audiences.2. poetic/lit. make dumb or unheard; silence: a splendor that dazed the mind and dumbed the tongue.DERIVATIVES: dumb·ly adv.dumb·ness n.

dumb

views updated May 29 2018

dumb dumb blonde a blonde-haired woman perceived in a stereotypical way as being attractive but unintelligent (compare blonde moment).
the dumb ox a nickname for St Thomas Aquinas; according to Butler's Lives of the Saints (1756) given to him by his schoolfellows because they thought his habitual silence indicated stupidity.

dumb

views updated May 14 2018

dumb destitute of speech, mute. OE. dumb = OS. dumb (Du. dom) stupid OHG. tump stupid, deaf (G. dumm stupid), ON. dumbr, Goth. dumbs mute; of unkn. orig.