DUMB, adjective Dum. 1. Mute; silent; not speaking. I was dumb with silence; I held my peace. Psalms 34:1. 2. Destitute of the power of speech; unable to utter articulate sounds; as the dumb brutes. The asylum at Hartford in Connecticut was the first institution in America for teaching the deaf and dumb to read and write. 3. Mute; not using or accompanied with speech; as a dumb show; dumb signs. To strike dumb is to confound; to astonish; to render silent by astonishment; or it may be, to deprive of the power of speech. DUMB, verb transitive To silence.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI