Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dumb \Dumb\, a. [AS. dumb; akin to D. dom stupid, dumb, Sw.
   dumb, Goth. dumbs; cf. Gr. ? blind. See {Deaf}, and cf.
   {Dummy}.]
   1. Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter
      articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes.

            To unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures.
                                                  --Hooker.

   2. Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not
      accompanied by words; as, dumb show.

            This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. --Shak.

            To pierce into the dumb past.         -- J. C.
                                                  Shairp.

   3. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. [R.]

            Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
                                                  --De Foe.

   {Deaf and dumb}. See {Deaf-mute}.

   {Dumb ague}, or {Dumb chill}, a form of intermittent fever
      which has no well-defined ``chill.'' [U.S.]

   {Dumb animal}, any animal except man; -- usually restricted
      to a domestic quadruped; -- so called in contradistinction
      to man, who is a ``speaking animal.''

   {Dumb cake}, a cake made in silence by girls on St. Mark's
      eve, with certain mystic ceremonies, to discover their
      future husbands. --Halliwell.

   {Dumb cane} (Bot.), a west Indian plant of the Arum family
      ({Dieffenbachia seguina}), which, when chewed, causes the
      tongue to swell, and destroys temporarily the power of
      speech.

   {Dumb crambo}. See under {crambo}.

   {Dumb show}.
      (a) Formerly, a part of a dramatic representation, shown
          in pantomime. ``Inexplicable dumb shows and noise.''
          --Shak.
      (b) Signs and gestures without words; as, to tell a story
          in dumb show.

   {To strike dumb}, to confound; to astonish; to render silent
      by astonishment; or, it may be, to deprive of the power of
      speech.

   Syn: Silent; speechless; noiseless. See {Mute}.

Deaf \Deaf\ (?; 277), a. [OE. def, deaf, deef, AS. de['a]f; akin
   to D. doof, G. taub, Icel. daufr, Dan. d["o]v, Sw. d["o]f,
   Goth. daubs, and prob. to E. dumb (the original sense being,
   dull as applied to one of the senses), and perh. to Gr. ?
   (for ?) blind, ? smoke, vapor, folly, and to G. toben to
   rage. Cf. {Dum}b.]
   1. Wanting the sense of hearing, either wholly or in part;
      unable to perceive sounds; hard of hearing; as, a deaf
      man.

            Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf. --Shak.

   2. Unwilling to hear or listen; determinedly inattentive;
      regardless; not to be persuaded as to facts, argument, or
      exhortation; -- with to; as, deaf to reason.

            O, that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but
            not to flattery!                      --Shak.

   3. Deprived of the power of hearing; deafened.

            Deaf with the noise, I took my hasty flight.
                                                  --Dryden.

   4. Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened. [R.]

            A deaf murmur through the squadron went. --Dryden.

   5. Decayed; tasteless; dead; as, a deaf nut; deaf corn. [Obs.
      or Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.

            If the season be unkindly and intemperate, they
            [peppers] will catch a blast; and then the seeds
            will be deaf, void, light, and naught. --Holland.

   {Deaf and dumb}, without the sense of hearing or the faculty
      of speech. See {Deaf-mute}.