▪ I. numb, a. (and n.)
(nʌm)
Forms: (5 nomyn,) 5–6 nome, 6–8 num, 6–7 numme, numbe, 7 numne, 7– numb.
[pa. pple. of nim v.]
A. adj.
1. a. Deprived of feeling, or of the power of movement, esp. through excessive cold. Also transf. and fig.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 358/1 Nomyn, or take wythe þe palsye, paraliticus. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxx. 111 There chachid I the crumpe, yit held I my grounde halfe nome. 1551 Turner Herbal i. (1568) 9 Leopardes bayne layd to a scorpione maketh hyr utterly amased and num. 1577–82 Breton Toys of Idle Head ix, My harte it selfe, is bitten so with frost, That all my sences now are waxed nome. 1607 Rowlands Diogines Lanth. D 2, I make them warme, That are both colde and numme. 1626 Bacon Sylva §735 Leaning long upon any Part maketh it Numme, and as we call it, Asleep. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 47 Were all seeing things sightless, there would be no colours..; all feelers numb, nothing handlesom. 1820 Keats Eve of St. Agnes i, Numb were the Beadsman's fingers, while he told His rosary. |
| transf. and fig. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 148 That their feete: be feete without ioyntes, that is to say, not distinct by trew quantitie of sillabes: And so, soch feete, be but numme..feete. 1610 Histrio-mastix i. 33 Musick shall feast the bounteous eares of Peace, Whil'st she inspires her numme conceipt with life. 1869 Speaker 7 Feb. 453/2 To foster that sense of history which is as active in that country as it is numb in our own. 1874 [see dobber2]. 1882 ‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 209 Just now I grew blind and numb. 1892 P. H. Emerson Son of Fens xxxii. 349 My old head fare as numb as a beetle. 1958 [see feel n. 5]. 1970 H. E. Roberts Third Ear 10/2 Numb, dumb; stupid. |
b. Helpless, incapable. numb hand, an inexpert or clumsy person. slang.
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xix. (1819) 302 A snail, as it should seem, is the most numb and unprovided of all artificers. 1853 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xxxviii. 212 The fact is, that ladies'-maids are only numb hands in all that relates to hunting. 1866 Punch 27 Oct. 177 The Bradford writer is a ‘numb hand’. |
c. Comb., as numb-cold, numb-footed, numb-handed.
| 1605 Tryall Chevalry iii. ii, But death hath layd his num⁓cold hand upon me. 1853 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xxiii. 123 You scandalous, hypocritical, rusty-booted, numb-handed son of a puffing corn-cutter. 1866 Carlyle Remin. (1881) I. 272 A heavy, shortish, numb-footed man. |
2. a. Of the nature of numbness.
| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. vi. Wks. 1851 III. 124 If to bring a num and chil stupidity of soul..be to keep away schisme, they keep away schisme indeed. 1836 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1852) 269 To induce that numb rigidity into our intellectual life. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 795 The note on that day shows that there had been some smarting pain in the ear, and also a ‘numb’ feeling in it occasionally. |
† b. numb palsy, paralysis. Obs.
| 1642 Rogers Naaman 35 What a numbe palsey, what a Laodicean temper..hath covered us over. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xliii. 434 He was taken with the numb palsy on one side. 1772 Boston Gaz. 2 Mar. 3/1 Last Friday died very sudden of the Numb-Palsey, Mrs. Mary Sigourney. |
3. Causing numbness. rare—1.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. i. 117 He..did giue himselfe (All thin and naked) to the numbe cold night. |
B. n. A cold which numbs fish.
| 1888 Armstrong in Goode Amer. Fishes 119 When we have extremely cold and cloudy weather,..the Trout at the mouth of New River are benumbed... When these ‘numbs’ occur, it is generally known through this and the adjoining counties. Ibid., There was a ‘numb’ in January, 1877, and another in the winter of 1879. |
▪ II. numb, v.
(nʌm)
Also 7 numme, numn, num.
[f. prec., or back-formation from numbed ppl. a.: cf. the earlier benumb.]
trans. To make numb.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iv, I will live, Onely to numme some others cursed bloode With the dead palsie of like misery. 1645 N. Drake Sieges Pontefract Castle (Surtees) 27 The bullitt grased upon Captin Fluddes legg, and numned it a little. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 401 Plough naked, Swain, and naked sow the Land, For lazy Winter nums the lab'ring Hand. 1742 Gray Eton 89 Lo, Poverty,..That numbs the soul with icy hand. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 266 The people..perceived, that the torpedo had actually numbed the dead fishes into life again. 1813 Scott Rokeby iii. xxi, A silent mood Hath numb'd the current of his blood. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 413 Age numbs the sense of both worlds. |
| absol. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. clxxiii. 487 Cicuta which wee call hemlocke..numbeth and astonieth. |