▪ I. † beˈnumb, ppl. a. Obs.
Forms: 5 be-, bynomen, benome, 6 benombe.
[Orig. benomen, OE. benumen, pa. pple. of beniman ‘to deprive,’ in phrase ‘to be benome(n the power of one's hands, etc.,’ in which sense the simple word was subseq. used elliptically. After giving origin to the vb. benumb (see next), its place was taken by the pa. pple. benumbed. See also benim.]
| [1393 Gower Conf. III. 2 Altogether he is benome The power both of hand and fete.] a 1400 Cursor M. 22829 (Tr.) Wemmed..on foot or honde,..crupel, croked, or bynomen. 1474 Caxton Chesse 104 Peple lese her membris and become half benomen. 1483 ― Gold. Leg. 85/3 Theyr armes were bynomen and of no power. 1530 Palsgr. 306/1 Benombe of ones lymbes, perclus. Ibid. 448/2 He is now benomme of his lymmes. |
▪ II. benumb, v.
(bɪˈnʌm)
Forms: ? 5–6 benome, 6 benomme, 6–8 benum, -numm(e, 7–8 benumn, 6– benumb.
[A verb of late origination, f. prec.; cf. for sense to lame, etc., for formation to astound. Benumb is a bad spelling of benum, after dumb, limb, etc.]
1. trans. To make (any part of the body) insensible, torpid, or powerless; occas. to stupefy or stun, as by a blow or shock; but now mostly used of the effects of cold.
| 1530 Palsgr. 448/2, I benomme, I make lame or take awaye the use of ones lymmes. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 4 Or hath the Crampe thy ioynts benomd with ache? 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 348 The tile..brake his neck-bone asunder..wherewith he was so suddenly benummed, that he lost his sight with the blow. a 1623 Sir J. Beaumont Ode Blessed Trin., No cold shall thee benumme, Nor darknesse taint thy sight. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. ii. 6 The Organs of Sense being now benummed. 1706 Addison Rosamond ii. vi. Wks. 1726 I. 122 The sleep of death benumbs all o'er My fainting limbs. 1861 Swinhoes N. China Camp. 370 The excessive cold benumbs all kinds of game. |
2. To render (the mental powers, the will, or the feelings) senseless or inert; to stupefy, deaden.
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 374 It rauysshid hym, and his spirites did be-nome. 1563 Myrr. for Mag., Somerset ix, Did ever madnes man so much benomme. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 107 Mopsa was benummed with joy when the Princesse gaue it her. 1665 Glanvill Sceps. Sci. xxiv. 147 There are few but find some Companies benumn and cramp them. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. liii. 303 A lethargy of servitude had benumbed the minds of the Greeks. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. xix, Some feelings Time can not benumb. |
| absol. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 73 If the sleepy drench Of that forgetful Lake benumme not still. |
3. fig. To paralyze.
| 1789 T. Jefferson Wks. (1859) II. 589 The accident in England has benumbed her mediation between the Swedes and Danes. 1825 ― Autobiog. I. 78 To benumb the action of the Federal government. |