▪ I. deaf, a.
(dɛf)
Forms: 1–3 deaf, Orm. dæf, (2–3 pl. deaue), 3–6 def, (3–5 pl. deue, 4 Ayenb. dyaf, dyaue, dyeaue), 4–5 deef(f, (pl. deeue), 4–6 defe, (deff(e, 5 deif, deyf(fe), 6 deefe, deaffe, (Sc. deif(f), 6–7 deafe, 7– deaf.
[A Common Teutonic adj.: OE. déaf = OFris. dâf (WFris. doaf), OS. dôf (MDu., Du., MLG. doof (v), LG. dôf), OHG. toup (b), (MHG. toup, Ger. taub), ON. daufr (Sw. döf, Da. döv), Goth. daufs (b) :—OTeut. *dauƀ-oz, from an ablaut stem deuƀ-, dauƀ-, duƀ, pre-Teut. dheubh-, to be dull or obtuse of perception: cf. Goth. afdaubnan to grow dull or obtuse, also Gr. τυϕλός (:—θυϕ-) blind. The original diphthong remains in north. dial.; in standard Eng. the vowel was long until the modern period, and so late as 1717–8 it was rimed with relief by Prior and Watts; the pronunciation (diːf) is still widely diffused dialectally, and in the United States.
In many Eng. dialects the ea is still diphthongal, deeaf]
1. a. Lacking, or defective in, the sense of hearing.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxxvii[i]. 14 Swe swe deaf ic ne ᵹe[herde]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 129 Alse to deue men. c 1200 Ormin 15500 Dumbe menn & dæfe. a 1225 St. Marher. 20 Noðer dumbe ne deaf. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 446 But she was somdel deef [v.r. def, defe] and þat was scathe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxxviii. (1495) 729 Vynegre helpith deyf eeres. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 115 Deffe, surdus. 1538 Starkey England 212 As you wold tel a tale to a deffe man. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 213 Come on my right hand, for this eare is deafe. 1717 Prior Alma ii. 366 Till death shall bring the kind relief, We must be patient, or be deaf. 1718 Watts Ps. cxxxv. 7 Blind are their eyes, their ears are deaf [rime relief]. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxv, You know our good Lady Suffolk is a little deaf. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. i. i. 5 In the rocks beneath the leaf, If it strikes you, you are deaf. |
b. absol.,
esp. in
pl. the deaf, deaf people.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xi. 5 Blinde ᵹeseoþ..deafe ᵹehyraþ. c 1200 Vices & Virtues (1888) 75 Þe blinde, ðe dumbe, ðe deaue, ðe halte. a 1300 Cursor M. 13107 (Cott.) Þe def has hering, blind has sight. 1611 Bible Isa. xxxv. 5 Then..the eares of the deafe shalbe vnstopped. 1855 Browning Master Hugues xxvi, Who thinks Hugues wrote for the deaf?..try again; what's the clef? |
c. fig. said of things.
| a 1000 Juliana 150 Þæt ic..dumbum and deafum deofolᵹieldum..gaful onhate. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. i. 81 Infected mindes To their deafe pillowes will discharge their secrets. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 29 Have its deaf waves not heard my agony? |
d. Proverbial phrases.
as deaf as an adder or a post (formerly and still dialectally
as deaf as a door, door-post, door-nail, etc.);
none so deaf as those who won't hear. (Deafness is attributed in the Bible,
Ps. lviii. 5, to the adder (
= pethen the asp);
cf. the name
deaf-adder in 7.)
| [a 1400–50 Alexander 4747 Dom as a dore-nayle & defe was he bathe.] 1551 Crowley Pleas. & Pain 93 Ye deafe dorepostis, coulde ye not heare? 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 143 Who is so deafe, as he that will not heare. 1606 Breton Mis. Mavillia Wks. (Grosart) 49 (D.) He is as deafe as a doore. 1611 Cotgr., Sourd comme vn tapis, as deafe as a doore-nayle (say we). a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xxxiv, He was as deaf as a Door-nail. 1824 Bentham Bk. of Fallacies Wks. 1843 II. 412 None are so completely deaf as those who will not hear. a 1845 Hood Tale of Trumpet iv, She was deaf as a post..And as deaf as twenty similes more, Including the adder, that deafest of snakes. |
| [c 825 Vesp. Ps. lvii. 4 (5) Swe nedran deafe. 1535 Coverd. ibid., Like the deaf Adder that stoppeth hir eares.] |
e. deaf and dumb: also used
absol. (
= deaf-mute) and thence
attrib., as ‘a deaf-and-dumb alphabet’.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 108 Ich heold me al stille..ase dumbe & deaf deð þet naueð non onswere. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4281 Þof it defe were & doumbe, dede as a ston. 1625 Sir J. Stradling Divine Poems iii. xlvi. 96 The deaf-and-dumbe he made to heare and speake. 1669 Holder Elem. Speech App. 114 Now as to the most general case of those who are deaf and dumb, I say they are dumb by consequence from their deafness. 1774 Johnson West. Isl. Wks. X. 520 There is..in Edinburgh..a college of the deaf and dumb. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. ii. 17 The real deaf-and-dumb language of signs. |
f. In restricted sense: Insensible
to certain kinds of sounds, musical rhythm, etc.
| 1784 Cowper Task vi. 646 Deaf as the dead to harmony. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiii. 167 A world of sounds to which I had been before quite deaf. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 241 His remarks upon versification are..instructive to whoever is not rhythm-deaf. |
2. fig. Not giving ear; unwilling to hear or heed, inattentive. Const.
to (
† at). Phrase.
to turn a deaf ear (to).
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7220 Hii beþ deue & blinde iwys, þat hii noileþ non god þyng yhure ne yse. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xii. 61 For god is def now a dayes and deyneþ nouht ous to huyre. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. xxii, Make deef ere to hem as though þou herde hem not. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. iii. 30 Mankinde was in a manner deaffe at the law of nature. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. ii. 257 Oh that mens eares should be To Counsell deafe, but not to Flatterie. 1655 Jennings Elise 100 The reason that hath caused..your pitty to be deaf at my prayers. 1700–11 Swift Jrnl. Stella 7 Feb., I was deaf to all intreaties. c 1780 Burns Duncan Gray, Duncan fleech'd and Duncan pray'd; Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig. 1838 Thirlwall Greece II. xiii. 167 They were deaf to his summons. 1887 R. N. Carey Uncle Max xxvi. 207, I prudently turned a deaf ear to this question. |
† 3. Dull, stupid; absurd.
Obs.| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 116 Deffe, or dulle (K. defte, H.P. deft), obtusus, agrestis. 1482 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 315 Tailors', Exeter, Callenge hym knaffe, or horson, or deffe, or any yoder mysname. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terapeutyke 2 B iv b, Otherwyse it shulde be a deafe thynge that y⊇ thynge whiche is no more beynge shulde requyre curacyon. |
† 4. Numb, without sensation.
Obs. rare.
| 15.. L. Andrew Noble Lyfe iii. xcii. in Babees Bk. 239 Torpido is a fisshe, but who-so handeleth hym shalbe lame & defe of lymmes, that he shall fele no thyng. |
† 5. Of sounds: So dull as to be hardly or indistinctly heard; muffled.
Obs. [
Cf. F.
bruit sourd.]
| 1612 Shelton Quix. I. iii. vi. 156 The deaf and confused Trembling of these Trees. 1647 W. Browne Polex. ii. 106 Assoone as Almanzor had made an end, there was a deafe noise among all the assembly. 1700 Dryden Fables, Meleager & Atal. 221 A deaf murmur through the squadron went. ― Ovid's Met. xii. 72 Nor silence is within, nor voice express, But a deaf noise of sounds that never cease. |
6. a. Lacking its essential character or quality; hollow, empty, barren, unproductive; insipid.
Cf. deaf nettle in 7. Now chiefly
dial.| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. lii. 411 Unᵹefynde corn..oððe deaf. 14.. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 718/36 Hee sunt partes fructuum..Hoc nauci..defe. 1552 Huloet, Deaffe or doted, as that whyche hath no sauoure, surdus. 1633 D. Rogers Treat. Sacraments i. 189 Tremble yow for your sitting so long upon the divels deafe egges. 1788 Marshall Yorksh. Gloss., Deaf, blasted, or barren; as a deaf ear of corn, or a deaf nut. 1878 Cumbrld. Gloss., Deef, Deeaf..Applied to corn, it means light grain; and to land, weak and unproductive. 1883 Standard 27 Aug. 6/4 The grain is bulky, the ears are large..although a few here and there are ‘deaf’. 1888 W. Somerset Word-bk., Deaf..applied to any kind of fruit or seed enclosed in a shell or husk, which when opened is barren. |
b. deaf nut: one with no kernel; used
fig. for something hollow, worthless, or unsubstantial.
| 1613 Bp. Hall Serm. 1 Sam. xii. 24 He is but a deaf nut therefore, that hath outward service without inward fear. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 331, I live upon no deaf nuts, as we use to speak. 1788 [see prec.]. 1808 Scott Let. to C. K. Sharpe 30 Dec. in Lockhart, The appointments..are {pstlg}300 a year—no deaf nuts. 1858 De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. Wks. I. 88 A blank day, yielding absolutely nothing—what children call a deaf nut, offering no kernel. |
† c. deaf arch = blind
arch. Obs. rare.
| 1815 Ann. Reg. Chron. 43 In one of the deaf Arches, immediately adjoining the middle arch of the bridge. |
7. Comb., etc., as
deaf-eared,
† deaf-minded adjs.;
deaf-adder [
cf. 1 d], a local name in England for the slow-worm or blind-worm, in
U.S. for certain snakes supposed to be venomous;
deaf-aid, a hearing aid;
deaf-dumb = deaf-mute;
deaf-dumbness, dumbness or aphonia arising from deafness;
deaf-ear, (
a)
= auricle 3;
† (
b) a cotyledon or seed-leaf of some plants; (
c) the ear-lobe of the domestic fowl;
deaf-nettle = dead-nettle.
| 1806 Polwhele Hist. Cornwall VII. 120 We have a kind of viper which we call the long-cripple: it is the slow-worm or *deaf-adder of authors. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Blauser, the name given by the Dutch settlers to the hog-nosed snake..Other popular names in New York are Deaf-Adder and Buckwheat-nosed Adder. |
| 1934 Discovery Nov. 324/2 The combined radio-gramophone and *deaf-aid. 1939 Nature 15 Apr. 633/1 An efficient type of deaf-aid is operated by a pick-up coil, in which are induced currents from an energized cable hung round the auditorium or placed under the carpet. |
| 1834 Good Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 423 A *deaf-dumb boy. Ibid. 421 The extent of Knowledge..which the deaf-dumb have occasionally exhibited. |
| Ibid. 418 Aphonia Surdorum, *Deaf-dumbness. 1883 B. W. Richardson Field of Disease vi. 262 Deafness, resulting..from actual disease, or from deaf-dumbness. |
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 374 At the Basis of the heart on either side hangeth an appendixe..which is called the Eare, not from any profite, action or vse it hath sayeth Galen..and therefore wee in English call it commonly the *deafe-eare, but for the similitude. Ibid. 375 The hollow veine..is receiued by the right deafe-eare. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Melon, The two first leaves, which are call'd the Deaf Ears of the plant, will twirl or coffer. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery v. 68 Wash a large beast's heart clean, and cut off the deaf-ears. 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 225 The cock..should have large wattles, and a clear white *deaf-ear. 1855 Ibid. III. 443 The importance of white deaf-ears seems however to have been overlooked by some of the competitors. 1877 N. W. Linc. Gloss., Dëaf-ears, the auricles of the heart. |
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. ix. (1593) 229 And words of comfort to her *deafeard mind they spake. |
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 149 These which are dumme and are *deafe minded. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 116 *Deffe nettylle, arch-angelus. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 201/1 Deafe Nettles. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Dëaf-nettle, the stingless nettle. |
▪ II. deaf, v. arch. or
dial. (
dɛf)
Forms: 5
deffe, 6
Sc. deif(f, 6–7
deeff(e,
deafe,
deaff, 7–
deaf.
[f. deaf a.; or an assimilation of the earlier deave v. to the form of the adj.] † 1. intr. To become deaf.
Obs. rare.
| 1530 Palsgr. 509/2 I deefe, I begyn to wante my hearing. |
2. trans. To make deaf, to deafen.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. 314 Then deffes hym with dyn the bellys of the kyrke When thai clatter. 1530 Palsgr. 509/2 Thou deeffest me with thy kryeng so loude. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 147 What cracker is this same that deafes our eares With this abundance of superfluous breath? 1697 Dryden æneid vii. 130 A swarm of thin aërial shapes appears, And, flutt'ring round his temples, deafs his ears. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i, Lord! this Boy is enough to deaf People. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Deeaf, to deafen with noise. |
b. fig. and
transf.| 1596 Lodge Marg. Amer. 7 Then marched forth ech squadron, deaffing the aire with their cries. 1615 T. Adams Blacke Devill 13 Yet still [he] deafes himselfe to the cry of his owne conscience. 1637 Nabbes Microcosm. in Dodsley IX. 127 If she urge Those accusations, deaf thy understanding To her suggestions. 1821 Byron Heav. & Earth iii. 283 No more..Than their last cries shall shake the Almighty purpose, Or deaf obedient ocean, which fulfils it. |
3. To drown (a sound)
with a louder sound.
| 1640 G. Abbott Job Paraphr. xxxix. 251 Deafing their noise..with his loud and daring neighings. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 95 The birds..Were often deaf'd to silence with her song. |
Hence
ˈdeafing vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1612 Two Noble Kinsm. v. iii. 9 Gainst the which there is No deafing but to hear. 1647 H. More Poems, Oracle 39 The deafing surges, that with rage do boyl. |