numb

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”) and Old Norse numinn. The final ⟨b⟩ is a later addition; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.

• enPR: nŭm, IPA^(key): /nʌm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)

1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.

   fingers numb with cold

   legs numb from kneeling

   Synonyms: deadened, insensible

2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.

   numb with shock; numb with boredom

   • 1915, Nellie McClung, chapter 2, in In Times Like These‎^[1], Toronto: McLeod & Allen:

     […] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.

   • 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood‎^[2], New York: Modern Library, published 1992, Part One, p. 77:

     […] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.

   • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time‎^[3], Random House Canada, Part Three:

     […] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.

   Synonym: stunned

3. (Maine) Dumb or stupid.
4. (obsolete) Causing numbness.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     […] he did lap me
     Even in his own garments, and gave himself,
     All thin and naked to the numb cold night.

• sensible, sensitive

• numskull

numb (third-person singular simple present numbs, present participle numbing, simple past and past participle numbed)

1. (transitive) To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).

   Synonym: benumb

   The dentist gave me novocaine to numb my tooth before drilling, thank goodness.

   When I first heard the news, I was numbed by the shock.

   • 1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], “The Prologue”, in Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, signature A2, recto:

     The ravviſh danke of clumzie vvinter ramps / The fluent ſummers vaine: and drizling ſleete / Chilleth the vvan bleak cheek of the numd earth, / VVhilſt ſnarling guſts nibble the iuyceles leaues, / From the nak't ſhuddring branch; […]

     An adjective use.

   • 2020 April 22, “Letters: Open Access: Not easy for laptops”, in Rail, page 31:

     But her main concern is the hard seating that numbs the nether regions.

2. (transitive) To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.

   Synonym: dull

   He turned to alcohol to numb his pain.

   • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman”, in The Grey Woman and Other Tales‎^[4], London: Smith, Elder & Co.:

     [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.

3. (transitive) To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.

   Synonym: dull

   • 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate”, in The Chronicles of Clovis‎^[5], London: John Lane, page 219:

     […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]

   • 1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden‎^[6], Part Four, Chapter 6:

     The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.

   • 2004, Cory Doctorow, chapter 13, in Eastern Standard Tribe‎^[7]:

     [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.

4. (intransitive) To become numb (especially physically).
   • 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, “Wonders of the Teleferica”, in Many Fronts‎^[8], London: John Murray, page 270:

     […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]

   • 1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, chapter 18, in The Land of Strong Men‎^[9], New York: H.K. Fly:

     […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.

• mind-numbing
• numb out