deadened

2 definitions found

deadened - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Deaden \Dead"en\ (d[e^]d"'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deadened
     (d[e^]d"'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Deadening.] [From Dead; cf.
     AS. d?dan to kill, put to death. See Dead, a.]
     1. To make as dead; to impair in vigor, force, activity, or
        sensation; to lessen the force or acuteness of; to blunt;
        as, to deaden the natural powers or feelings; to deaden a
        sound.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              As harper lays his open palm
              Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations.
                                                    --Longfellow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To lessen the velocity or momentum of; to retard; as, to
        deaden a ship's headway.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To deprive of gloss or brilliancy; to obscure; as, to
        deaden gilding by a coat of size.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. To render impervious to sound, as a wall or floor; to
        deafen.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

deadened - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  deadened
      adj 1: devoid of physical sensation; numb; "his gums were dead
             from the novocain"; "she felt no discomfort as the
             dentist drilled her deadened tooth"; "a public
             desensitized by continuous television coverage of
             atrocities" [syn: dead, deadened]
      2: made or become less intense; "the deadened pangs of hunger"