dull

Alternative forms

• dul, dulle (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-West Germanic *dol, from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, from earlier *dwulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-, *dʰewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”).

Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʌl/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -ʌl

Adjective

dull (comparative duller, superlative dullest)

1. Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

   Synonym: blunt

   Antonym: sharp

   All these knives are dull.

2. Boring; not exciting or interesting.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:boring

   He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.

   • 1895, S. R. Crockett, A Cry Across the Black Water:

     "You are very dull this morning, Sheriff," said the youngest daughter of the house, who, being the baby and pretty, had grown pettishly privileged in speech.

   • 2012, Winston S. Churchill, Martin Gilbert, Churchill: The Power of Words, page 14:

     But there we were given only the dullest, driest, pemmicanised forms like The Student's Hume, Once I had a hundred pages of The Student's Hume as a holiday task.

3. Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

   Synonyms: lackluster, matte; see also Thesaurus:dim

   Antonym: bright

   Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.

   a dull fire or lamp;  a dull red or yellow;  a dull mirror

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:

     A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

   • 1959, Robert Adams Wilson, Bird Islands of New Zealand, page 67:

     The young bird had the plumage of the saddleback, not the even chestnut of the jackbird, although its plumage was rather duller than that of the adult.

4. Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stupid

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:intelligent

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     She is not bred so dull but she can learn.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 5, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     dull at classical learning

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’

5. Sluggish, listless.

   Synonyms: ponderous, slothful; see also Thesaurus:lazy, Thesaurus:slow

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 13:xiii:

     This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.

6. Bored, depressed, down.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:be bored, Thesaurus:sad

   I felt dull all day.

7. Cloudy, overcast.

   It's a dull day.

8. Insensible; unfeeling.

   Synonyms: emotionless; see also Thesaurus:alexithymic

   • 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii:

     Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.

9. Heavy; lifeless; inert.

   Synonyms: immobile; see also Thesaurus:inactive, Thesaurus:stationary

   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     the dull earth

   • c. 1857', Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Table-Talk

     As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

10. (of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.

    Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

11. Not clear, muffled. (of a noise or sound)

Verb

dull (third-person singular simple present dulls, present participle dulling, simple past and past participle dulled)

1. (transitive) To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

   Years of misuse have dulled the tools.

   • a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC:

     This […] dulled their swords.

2. (transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

   He drinks to dull the pain.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vi]:

     Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.

   • 1850, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord:

     Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.

3. (intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

   A razor will dull with use.

4. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.

References

• “dull”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dull”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ULDL

Alternative forms

• duïll, dui

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan duyll, from Late Latin ducīculus, diminutive from Latin ducem (“guide”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈduʎ]

Noun

dull m (plural dulls)

1. (nautical) scupper

   Synonym: embornal

2. bung-hole

References

• “dull” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Further reading

• “dull” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.