DUMB, a. Dum.
1. Mute silent not speaking.
I was dumb with silence I held my peace. Psalms 34 .
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, To silence.