dull

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See also: Dull

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-, *dʰewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”). Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

dull (comparative duller, superlative dullest)

  1. Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
    All these knives are dull.
  2. Boring; not exciting or interesting.
    He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.
    When does having a dull personality ever get you a girlfriend? Even if you get one, how does being dull help you keep a relationship for over a year?
  3. Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.
    Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.
    a dull fire or lamp;  a dull red or yellow;  a dull mirror
    • (Can we date this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860, page 0016:
      A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.
  4. Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
    • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
      She is not bred so dull but she can learn.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Makepeace Thackeray and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      dull at classical learning
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess‎[1]:
      She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’
  5. Sluggish, listless.
    • Bible, Matthew xiii. 15
      This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.
    • (Can we date this quote by Edmund Spenser and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
  6. Cloudy, overcast.
    It's a dull day.
  7. Insensible; unfeeling.
    • (Can we date this quote by Beaumont and Fletcher and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.
  8. Heavy; lifeless; inert.
    • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]:
      the dull earth
    • (Can we date this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
  9. (of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.
    Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.
  10. (of a noise or sound) Not clear, muffled.

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

dull (third-person singular simple present dulls, present participle dulling, simple past and past participle dulled)

  1. (transitive) To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.
    Years of misuse have dulled the tools.
    • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      This […] dulled their swords.
  2. (transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.
    He drinks to dull the pain.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene vi]:
      Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.
    • (Can we date this quote by Trench and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.
  3. (intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.
    A razor will dull with use.
  4. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
    • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      dulls the mirror

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Welsh[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, point out”).[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

dull m (plural dulliau)

  1. method

Mutation[edit]

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
dull ddull null unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References[edit]

  1. ^ J. Morris Jones, A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative (Oxford 1913), § 95 ii 2.
  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950-), “dull”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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