numb
verbEtymology From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”) and Old Norse numinn. The final ⟨b⟩ is a later addition; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.
1
To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).
- The dentist gave me novocaine to numb my tooth before drilling, thank goodness.
- When I first heard the news, I was numbed by the shock.
2 more examples
- The ravviſh danke of clumzie vvinter ramps / The fluent ſummers vaine: and drizling ſleete / Chilleth the vvan bleak cheek of the numd earth, / VVhilſt ſnarling guſts nibble the iuyceles leaues, / From the nak't ſhuddring branch; […]1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], “The Prologue”, in Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, signature A2, recto:
- But her main concern is the hard seating that numbs the nether regions.2020 April 22, “Letters: Open Access: Not easy for laptops”, in Rail, page 31:
2
To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
- He turned to alcohol to numb his pain.
- [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman”, in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.:
3
To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
- […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate”, in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, page 219:
- The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6:
1 more example
- [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.2004, Cory Doctorow, chapter 13, in Eastern Standard Tribe:
4
To become numb (especially physically).
- […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]1918, Lewis R. Freeman, “Wonders of the Teleferica”, in Many Fronts, London: John Murray, page 270:
- […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, chapter 18, in The Land of Strong Men, New York: H.K. Fly:
- Derived terms
- mind-numbing, numb out