| 释义 |
▪ I. dumb, a. (n.)|dʌm|
Forms: 1– dumb; also 3–5 doumb(e, 3–6 domm(e, (4 doum, doump), 4–7 domb(e, dumbe, 5 doom, dowmb(e, dowm(e, dume, 5–6 dome, 5–7 dum, dumm(e.
[A Com. Teut. adj.: OE. dumb = OS. dumb (MDu. domp, dom, Du. dom, LG. dum), OHG. tumb, tump (MHG. tump, tum, early mod.G. thumb, mod.G. dumm), ON. dumbr (Sw. dumb), Goth. dumbs. In Gothic, Old Norse, and OE. only in sense ‘mute, speechless’; in OHG. it shared this sense with those of ‘stupid’ and ‘deaf’; in the other langs. and periods, generally in sense ‘stupid’, though early mod.Ger. had also that of ‘deaf’: see Grimm. These diverse applications suggest as the original sense some such notion as ‘stupid’, ‘not understanding’, which might pass naturally either into ‘deaf’ or ‘dumb’.]
A. adj.
1. a. Destitute of the faculty of speech. deaf and dumb: see deaf a. 1 e.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 32 Hiᵹ brohton hym dumbne man [Rushw. G. monnu dumb and deaf]. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 202 Beo ðu dumb oðþæt þæt cild beo acenned. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 125 Þus bicom þe holi man dumb. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 131 Þe maistres sete stille y now, ryȝt as heo doumbe were. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 29 A deef man and a doumbe was helid of Crist. c1450Merlin 172 Thei were alle stille and mewet as though thei hadde be dombe. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 82 Better a dum mouthe than a brainles scull. 1535Coverdale Hab. ii. 18 Therfore maketh he domme Idols. 1613Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 103 Diuers may haue vnderstanding by their sight onely, though dumb and deafe. 1678Yng. Man's Call. 284 Worshippers of dum idols. 1785F. Burney Diary 16 Dec., It appears quite as strange to meet with people who have no ear for music..as to meet with people who are dumb. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. iv. 66 Every deaf and dumb child is educated, more or less, by living among those who speak.
absol.c1000ælfric Hom. I. 544 Hi forᵹeafon..dumbum spræce. c1200Vices & Virtues (1888) 75 Þe blinde, ðe dumbe, ðe deaue, ðe halte. 1382Wyclif Prov. xxxi. 8 Opene thi mouth to the dumbe. 1611Bible Isa. xxxv. 6 The tongue of the dumbe [shall] sing. 1884tr. Lotze's Logic 14 The ideas of the deaf and dumb.
b. Applied to the lower animals (and, by extension, to inanimate nature) as naturally incapable of articulate speech. Esp. in phrases dumb chum, dumb friend, applied to domesticated animals.
a1000Andreas 67 (Gr.) Swa þa dumban neat. a1225Ancr. R. 134 Of dumbe bestes & of dumbe fueles leorneð wisdom & lore. a1300Cursor M. 11222 He..did þe dumb asse to speke. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 49 Þe creatours þat er dom, And na witt ne skille has. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iii. 82 They slewe the one thother, as domm bestes. 1593Queen Elizabeth Boeth. (E.E.T.S.) 31 That the divine Creature..should no otherwise florish, but that it neede possession of dom [L. inanimatæ] ware? 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 644 Dumb Sheep and Oxen spoke. Ibid. iii. 722 A Plague did on the dumb Creation rise. 1849Lytton Caxtons xviii. ii, To waste on a dumb animal what..many a good Christian would be..glad of. 1870Animal World July 163/1 My considerable experience..combined with the affection I still feel for the dumb friends of my childhood, induces me to note down a few reminiscences of favourites. 1927Wodehouse Meet Mr. Mulliner iii. 80 The dog..stood there, barking... ‘Having a little trouble with the dumb friend, bish?’ he asked genially. 1934― Right Ho, Jeeves i. 13 He retired to the depths of the country and gave his life up to these dumb chums. 1940‘N. Blake’ Malice in Wonderland i. vii. 84 Don't leave your dumb friends at home! Bring them to Wonderland and instal them in our superbly equipped Pets' Corner! 1957R. Campbell Portugal 62 Cassius's dumb-chum, the moray, adored him.
c. Without the power of making their voice effectively heard; without any voice in the management of affairs.
1856Olmsted Slave States 215 The dumb masses have often been so lost in this shadow of egotism, that [etc.]. 1878Morley Carlyle 191 He talks of the dumb millions in terms of fine and sincere humanity.
d. In proverbial phrases.
c1340Cursor M. 13739 (Fairf.) Þai wex doumbe as stane. 1382Wyclif Isa. lvi. 10 Doumbe dogges not mowende berken, seende veyne thingus, slepende, and loouende sweuenus. c1384Chaucer H. Fame ii. 148 Dombe as any stoon Thou sittest at another booke. a1400–50Alexander 4747 Dom as a dore-nayle and defe was he bathe. c1440York Myst. xxxiii. 65 Domme as a dore gon he dwell. a1607J. Raynolds Proph. Obad. ii. (1613) 29 The ignorance of many, that are dumbe dogges, and cannot barke. 1770Foote Lame Lover i. Wks. 1799 II. 61 A whole family dumb as oysters. c1793Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1799) I. 13 When Pitt, as a fish, in the Commons was dumb.
2. Temporarily bereft of the power of speech, from astonishment, grief, or some mental shock.
a1300Cursor M. 24308 (Gött.) For murning al dumb war þai. 1388Wyclif Ps. xxxviii. 10 [xxxix. 9], I was doumbe, and openyde not my mouth; for thou hast maad. 1513Douglas æneis iv. i. 1 Enee half wod and doum stude. 1635J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 29 Strucken dumbe remain'd Feredo with this..dishonest proposition. 1714Miss Vanhomrigh in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 287 There is something in your looks so awful, that it strikes me dumb. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Clubs Wks. (Bohn) III. 95 Men of a delicate sympathy, who are dumb in a mixed company. 1888J. Inglis Tent Life in Tigerland 31, I was struck dumb with astonishment for the minute.
3. a. That does not or will not speak; that remains persistently silent; little addicted to speech; taciturn, reticent.
1406Hoccleve La Male Regle 433 The prouerbe is ‘the doumb man no lond getith’. 1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 119 That they be neither to talkative, nor to dumbe. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. i. 171 This Spirit dumbe to vs, will speake to him. 1629Milton Nativity 173 The Oracles are dumb. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. xiv, He was dumb all the rest of the way. 1742Young Nt. Th. iv. 717 Nature is dumb on this important point. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. v, The English are a dumb people.
†b. Const. from, of. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 60 [Þei] ben doumb fro þe gospel, and tellen here owen lawis. Ibid. 420 His herdis..be doump of lore of lif and lore of word to helpe þer sheepe.
c. to sing dumb: to be silent, hold one's peace.
1715Auld Stuarts back again in Jacobite Songs (1871) 27 We'll either gar them a' sing dumb, Or ‘Auld Stuarts back again’. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. iii, I'll tell them tales will gar them a' sing dumb. 1752Scotland's Glory, etc. 54 When this is answered I'll sing dumb.
4. Of things or actions: Not characterized by or attended with speech or vocal utterance. dumb crambo: see crambo 1 b. See also dumb show.
dumb cake, a cake made in silence on St. Mark's Eve, with numerous ceremonies, by maids, to discover their future husbands (Halliwell).
1538Starkey England i. iv. 103 So long as the kyng ys lyuely reson..so long..he ys aboue hys lawys, wych be but, as you wyl say, rayson dome. 1580Sidney Arcadia i. iii. (1590) 10 b, His countenance could not but with dumme Eloquence desire it. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 359 All this dumbe play had his acts made plain. 1610― Temp. iii. iii. 39 Expressing..a kinde Of excellent dumb discourse. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 344 Doing all by signs and dumb postures. 1814Mrs. J. West Alicia De Lacy I. 30 Her employ is making dumb cakes, and tying girdles round the bed-posts to dream of her sweet-heart. Ibid. III. 214. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. xii, Pleasant answered with a short dumb nod.
5. a. Not emitting sound, unaccompanied or unattended by sound of any kind; silent, mute; unheard, from the sound being drowned by a louder one.
[c1000ælfric Gram. iii. (Z.) 6 Þa oðre niᵹon consonantes synd ᵹecwedene mutæ, þæt synd dumbe.] 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. v. 50 What I would haue spoke, Was beastly dumbe [mod. edd. dumbed] by him. a1680T. Brooks in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxvii. 2 Written with א, a quiet dumb letter. 1724Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 149 This is the dumb and dreary hour When injur'd ghosts complain. 1805Wordsw. Waggoner 39 All the while his whip is dumb. 1819Shelley Peter Bell i. xiii, Its thunder made the cataracts dumb. 1822–34Good Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 385 The trachea is straight in the tame or dumb swan. 1842Tennyson Sir Galahad 52 The streets are dumb with snow. 1891R. Kipling Eng. Flag xvii. in Nat. Observer 4 Apr. 511/1 The dead dumb fog hath wrapped it.
b. dumb peal: a muffled peal of bells.
1799Naval Chron. II. 264 A dumb or mourning peal..was rung. 1837Boston Advertiser 10 Jan. 2/1 [He] was greeted on his return home with a dumb-peal.
c. Giving no sound on percussion, as a tumour.
1879J. M. Duncan Lect. Dis. Women i. (1889) 3 The ear may find it dumb, or may find a souffle or a pulse. Ibid. xv. 112 The tumour is rounded, dull on percussion, dumb, slightly displaceable.
6. Applied to mechanical contrivances which take the place of a human agent. See dumb-waiter.
dumb borsholder: see Hasted (as cited), L. J. Jennings Rambles among the Hills (1880) 299.
1782Hasted Hist. Kent II. 284/2 Electing a Deputy to the Dumb Borsholder of Chart, as it was called. 1793B. Edwards Hist. W. Indies in Burrowes Cycl. X. 286/1 The canes are turned round the middle roller by a piece of frame work of a circular form, which is called in Jamaica, the dumb-returner. 1853(title) Specif. S. Blackwell's Patent for..‘constructing a certain article of saddlery denominated a dumb jockey’.
7. a. Saying nothing to the understanding; inexpressive, meaningless; stupid, senseless. Now rare.
1531Tindale Exp. 1 John (1537) 53 They wyl breake in to thy conscience, as the byshop of Rome doeth with his domme traditions. 1542–5Brinklow Lament. lf. 18 b, A popishe Masse..is to the people a domme, yea a deade ceremonye. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §17 'Twas not dumbe chance, that..contrived a miscarriage in the Letter.
b. Foolish, stupid, ignorant (chiefly of persons); spec. dumb blonde, a conspicuously attractive but stupid blonde woman; dumb bunny, a stupid person; dumb Dora, a stupid girl; dumb ox, a stupid, awkward, or uncommunicative man (cf. sense 1 b above); spec. a nickname for St. Thomas Aquinas. colloq.
Possibly reinforced by G. dumm or Du. dom.
[c1323P. Calo Vita in D. Prümmer Fontes Vitae S. Thomae Aquinatis (1912) i. 78 Cœperunt eum Fratres vocare bovem mutum.] 1756A. Butler Lives Saints I. 393 His [sc. St. Thomas's] school-fellows thought he learnt nothing, and, on account of his silence, called him The dumb Ox. Ibid., Albertus not able to contain his joy and admiration, said, ‘We call him the dumb ox, but he will give such a bellow in learning as will be heard all over the world.’ 1823J. F. Cooper Pilot II. iii. 39 ‘They're a dumb race’ said the cockswain,..‘now, there was our sargeant, who ought to know something.’ 1851Longfellow Golden Leg. vi. 271 To gather in piles the pitiful chaff That old Peter Lombard thrashed with his brain, To have it caught up and tossed again On the horns of the Dumb Ox of Cologne. 1888F. R. Stockton Dusantes 124 The Grootenheimers always was the dumbest family in the township. 1892Harper's Mag. Feb. 441/1 My, but men are dumb. A woman would have caught on long ago. 1914R. Brooke Let. 15–17 Aug. (1968) 609 This is a badly-written, dumb, letter. 1919F. Hurst Humoresque 259, I been so dumb not to right away see it. 1922Dialect Notes V. 141 Dumb-bunny [in College slang], a somewhat stupid person... ‘My dear, you are the preshest old dumb-bunny.’ Ibid. 147 Dumbdora, a stupid girl. 1930[see ball n.1 18]. 1932‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic xx. 255 He is that dumb, if you'll pardon the word, madam, that not a bit of sense could I get out of him. 1936‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles vi. 62 A sulky fair girl, who played ‘dumb’ blondes from year's end to year's end. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart i. i. 25 One has got to see just how dumb Mr. Quayne was. He had not got a mind that joins one thing and another up. 1945L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 24 Dumb bunny, stupid person. 1947Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Nov. 594/2 The cult of ‘dumb-ox’ individualism is certainly unsuitable for New Zealand, where the individual has rarely bulked as large as the State. 1959‘M. Derby’ Tigress ii. 88 The dumb blonde to whom all instruments and machinery were insoluble riddles. 1959Listener 16 July 110/3 An amiable dumb-ox. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 145 They [sc. hens] would then wait expectantly, heads cocked on one side with a sort of dumb-Dora inquisitive chuckle.
c. Of a computer terminal: not intelligent (intelligent a. 5); without any independent data-processing capability.
1976Telecommunications Nov. 39/2 The totally nonintelligent, or dumb, or basic terminal is one thing that can be defined nonsubjectively. 1983Your Business Computer Oct. 6/3 The dumb terminal relies on the host CPU for all processing, and is effectively a video monitor with a keyboard. 1985Which Computer? Apr. 119/3 Dentron provides a central microcomputer to which ‘dumb’ terminals are attached (they are dumb in the sense that all the clever processing goes on in the central computer).
8. Lacking some property, quality, or accompaniment, normally belonging to things of the name.
dumb ague, one in which the paroxysms are obscure; also, an irregular form of malarial fever, which lacks the usual chill; also dumb chill, dumb fever. dumb arch: cf. blind a. 10. dumb chamber, one having no outlet. dumbfish: cf. dunfish. dumb nettle, the dead-nettle: cf. blind-nettle. dumb nut (Sc. dial.), a deaf nut. dumb piano, a contrivance having a set of keys like a piano and used for exercising the fingers. Also dumb barge, -bell, craft.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 131 Musick, three kettle drummes, and six dumb Musquets. 1792J. Belknap New-Hampsh. III. 214 Large thick fish, which after being properly salted and dried, is kept alternately above and under ground, till it becomes so mellow as to be denominated dumb fish. 1793Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. III. p. iv, Fever and ague..also visits the borders of limpid streams. The lesser degree of it generally called dumb ague, is not rare in the most salubrious places during the months of September and October. 1832R. Baird Valley Mississippi viii. 73 These maladies are intermitting and remitting bilious fevers..which..have received the names of ‘ague’, ‘dumb ague’, and ‘chill and fever’. 1853G. Bird Urin. Deposits (ed. 4) 435 Imperfect paroxysms, the ‘dumb-ague’ as they are often..called..appear again. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 133 Dumb chill, or dumb ague, an expression common in malaria regions to denote that form of intermittent fever which has no well defined ‘chill’. 1866Mitchell Hist. Montrose viii. 80 The dumb overarched spaces where the letters are put in. 1871Sir T. Watson Princ. & Pract. Med. (ed. 5) II. xxxv. 763 This state is commonly known..as the dumb ague, or the dead ague; the patient is said not to shake out. 1888Gowers Dis. Nervous Syst. II. 674 Gymnastic exercises are often useful..for which with advantage a ‘dumb piano’ may be used. 1893Dartnell & Goddard Gloss. Wiltshire 49 'Tis what 'ee do caal the dumb-agey. 1894W. M. F. Petrie Hist. Egypt I. 185 A long staircase, which ended in a dumb chamber.
†9. Lacking brightness; dull, dim. nonce-use.
1720De Foe Capt. Singleton xviii. (1840) 315 Her stern..was painted of a dumb white, or dun colour.
B. absol. or as n.
†1. A dumb person. Obs.
[c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 33 Utadrifene þam deofle, se dumbe spræc.] 1596Dalrymple Leslie's Hist. Scot. (1888) I. 122 A murthirer, a dum [mutus], or vngrate to his parents.
†2. A dumb state; a fit of dumbness. Obs.
1640Nabbes Bride ii. ii, Suddaine dumbs: Whence are they? c1678Roxb. Ball. (1882) IV. 358 Can you cure a Woman of the Dumb?
3. N. Amer. A foolish or stupid person. Also dum(b)-dum(b). colloq.
1928Daily Express 4 Dec. 10/3 A ‘dumb’ is a stupid person, and if he's dumb enough he'll probably drive you ‘cuckoo’ or crazy. 1970L. Sanders Anderson Tapes xxxi. 81 You're no dumdum, are you? 1970Calgary Herald 24 Aug. 9/1 Better they should employ some dumb-dumb.
C. Comb.
a. general, as dumb-born, dumb-cowed, dumb-discoursive, dumb-doggish, dumb-mad, dumb-stricken, dumb-struck, etc.
1580Sidney Arcadia iii. 244 Thus would hee..bee dumb-stricken when her presence gave him fit occasion of speaking. 1594Drayton Ideas xxxv, A dumb-born muse made to express the mind. a1613Overbury Characters, Distaster of Times Wks. (1856) 128 He is often dumb-mad, and goes fetter'd in his owne entrailes. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. ix, Poor young Esmond was so dumb-stricken that he did not even growl. 1887Sir R. H. Roberts In the Shires vi. 104 For a few moments he remained dumb-struck. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 332 Affectionate in a dumb-doggish sort. 1890R. Kipling Wee Willie Winkie 63 They were openly beaten, whipped, dumb-cowed, shaking and afraid.
b. Special combinations: dumb-chalder or -cleat, a metal cleat, bolted to the back of the stern-post for one of the rudder-pintles to rest on (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.); dumb-drift, an airway conveying foul air to the upcast shaft of a mine, past and not through the ventilating furnace, called when so arranged a dumb-furnace; dumb-pintle, a peculiar kind of pintle or rudder-strap; dumb-play = dumb show 2; dumb-scraping, ‘scraping wet-docks with blunt scrapers’ (Smyth); dumb sheave, a sheaveless block having a hole for a rope to be reeved through; dumb singles, a kind of silk merely wound and cleaned (Simmonds Dict. Trade); dumb-sound v., to deaden the sound or noise of; dumb-tooling (Bookbinding) = blind tooling; dumb well, a well sunk into a porous stratum, to carry off surface water or drainage; also called blind well, dead well.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Dumb-drift, an air-way conveying air around, not through, a ventilating furnace to the upcast.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Dumb furnace.
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 137 Sometimes one or two are shorter than the rest, and work in a socket-brace, whereby the rudder turns easier: the latter are called *dumb-pintles. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Pintles, The rudder is hung on to a ship by pintles and braces..a dumb pintle on the heel finally takes the strain off the hinging portions.
1920Chambers's Jrnl. 374/1 A violent *dumb-play of smoothing the hair and arranging the coats of pyjamas. 1921Glasgow Herald 10 Feb. 6 Certain M.P.'s did take the part of actors and were duly taken and their dumb-play shown on the screen.
c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 74 There is a live sheave for the working top pendant, and a *dumb one for the hawser. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 32 It is rove over a dumb sheave in the flying jib-boom end.
1882Even. Standard 3 Feb., To compel the Company to ‘*dumb-sound’ and make water-tight a bridge which they propose building across Montpellier Road.
1895J. W. Zaehnsdorf Short Hist. Bkbind. 11 Great aptitude for receiving impressions of *dumb or blind tooling.
1878J. T. Bunce Hist. B'ham I. 325 The contents of water-closets..pass..into *dumb wells. 1888Law Rep. Ch. Div. XXXIX. 272 A dumb well, viz. a well into which waste water flows through a pipe and thence percolates into the soil, is not a ‘drain or watercourse’ within the meaning of the Highway Act 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 50 §67.
▪ II. dumb, v.
[f. prec. adj. (OE. had, in sense 1, adumbian.)]
†1. intr. To become dumb, speechless, or silent.
[c1000Ags. Gosp. Mark i. 25 A-dumba and ga of þisum men.] a1300E.E. Psalter xxxviii[i]. 3 I doumbed [v.r. ic a-dumbade] and meked, and was ful stille. a1340Hampole Psalter xxxviii[i]. 13, I dumbid, and i oppynd not my mouth.
2. trans. To render dumb, silent, or unheard.
1608Shakes. Per. v. Prol. 5 Deep clerks she dumbs. a1618Sylvester Sonn. late Mirac. Peace xxv. 3 Deafning the winds, dumbing the loudest thunders. 1650W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 219 It..dumbs the mouth to prayer. 1885Burton Arab. Nts. (1887) III. 14 A splendour that dazed the mind and dumbed the tongue. 1895Daily Tel. 22 Aug. 5/1 Sounds at sea..becoming arrested, and, as it were, dumbed by new strata of air. |