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dull |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Dull \Dull\, v. i. To become dull or stupid. --Rom. of R. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Dull \Dull\, a. [Compar. {Duller}; superl. {Dullest}.] [AS. dol foolish; akin to gedwelan to err, D. dol mad, dwalen to wander, err, G. toll mad, Goth. dwals foolish, stupid, cf Gr ? turbid, troubled, Skr. dhvr to cause to fall. Cf {Dolt}, {Dwale}, {Dwell}, {Fraud}.] 1. Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish. ``Dull at classical learning.'' --Thackeray. She is not bred so dull but she can learn. --Shak. 2. Slow in action sluggish; unready; awkward. This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. --Matt. xiii. 15. O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue. --Spenser. 3. Insensible; unfeeling. Think me not So dull a devil to forget the loss Of such a matchless wife. -- Beau. & Fl 4. Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt. ``Thy scythe is dull.'' --Herbert. 5. Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror. 6. Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert. ``The dull earth.'' --Shak. As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain. -- Longfellow. 7. Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence cloudy; overcast; as a dull day Along life's dullest, dreariest walk. -- Keble. Syn: Lifeless; inanimate; dead; stupid; doltish; heavy; sluggish; sleepy; drowsy; gross; cheerless; tedious; irksome; dismal; dreary; clouded; tarnished; obtuse. See {Lifeless}. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Dull \Dull\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Duller}; p. pr & vb n. {Dulling}.] 1. To deprive of sharpness of edge or point. ``This . . . dulled their swords.'' --Bacon. Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. --Shak. 2. To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses the feelings, the perceptions, and the like Those [drugs] she has Will stupefy and dull the sense a while --Shak. Use and custom have so dulled our eyes. --Trench. 3. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish. ``Dulls the mirror.'' --Bacon. 4. To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden. Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through continuance. --Hooker. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: dull adj 1: lacking in liveliness or animation; "he was so dull at parties"; "a dull political campaign"; "a large dull impassive man"; "dull days with nothing to do"; "how dull and dreary the world is"; "fell back into one of her dull moods" [ant: {lively}] 2: emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky" [ant: {bright}] 3: being or made softer or less loud or clear; "the dull boom of distant breaking waves"; "muffled drums"; "the muffled noises of the street"; "muted trumpets" [syn: {muffled}, {muted}, {softened}] 4: so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; "a boring evening with uninteresting people"; "the deadening effect of some routine tasks"; "a dull play"; "his competent but dull performance"; "a ho-hum speaker who couldn't capture their attention"; "what an irksome task the writing of long letters is"- Edmund Burke; "tedious days on the train"; "the tiresome chirping of a cricket"- Mark Twain; "other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome" [syn: {boring}, {deadening}, {ho-hum}, {irksome}, {slow}, {tedious}, {tiresome}, {wearisome}] 5: (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull greens and blues" 6: not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain" [ant: {sharp}] 7: slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity; "so dense he never understands anything I say to him"; "never met anyone quite so dim"; "although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow students" [syn: {dense}, {dim}, {dumb}, {obtuse}, {slow}] 8: (of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market" [syn: {slow}, {sluggish}] 9: not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to be of any use" [ant: {sharp}] 10: blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather 11: not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft; "the dull thud"; "thudding bullets"; "thumping feet on the carpeted stairs" [syn: {thudding}, {thumping}] 12: darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "a gray rainy afternoon"; "gray clouds"; "the sky was leaden and thick" [syn: {gray}, {grey}, {leaden}] v 1: make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface" 2: become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness, as of a varnished surface 3: deaden (a sound or noise), esp. by wrapping [syn: {muffle}, {mute}, {damp}, {dampen}, {tone down}] 4: make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses" [syn: {numb}, {benumb}, {blunt}] 5: make dull or blunt, as of sharp edges or knives' blades [syn: {blunt}] [ant: {sharpen}] 6: become less interesting or attractive [syn: {pall}] 7: make less lively or vigorous; "Middle age dulled her appetite for travel"
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