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Dull

//dʌl// adj, name, verb

Definitions

Adjective

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."
3
Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.
"Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints."
4
Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
"She is not bred so dull but she can learn."
5
Sluggish, listless.
"This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing."

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6
Bored, depressed, down.
"I felt dull all day."
7
Cloudy, overcast.
"It's a dull day."
8
Insensible; unfeeling.
"Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife."
9
Heavy; lifeless; inert.
"the dull earth"
10
Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.
"Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain."
11
Not clear, muffled. (of a noise or sound)

Adjective

1
(of business) not active or brisk wordnet
2
emitting or reflecting very little light wordnet
3
(of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted wordnet
4
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity wordnet
5
darkened with overcast wordnet

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6
not having a sharp edge or point wordnet
7
not keenly felt wordnet
8
lacking in liveliness or animation wordnet
9
so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness wordnet
10
being or made softer or less loud or clear wordnet
11
not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft wordnet
12
blunted in responsiveness or sensibility wordnet

Proper Noun

1
A surname. of Scottish and German origin.
2
A village in Perth and Kinross council area, Scotland.

Verb

1
To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp. transitive
"Years of misuse have dulled the tools."
2
make less lively or vigorous wordnet
3
To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy. transitive
"He drinks to dull the pain."
4
become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness wordnet
5
To lose a sharp edge; to become dull. intransitive
"A razor will dull with use."

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6
become less interesting or attractive wordnet
7
To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
8
make dull in appearance wordnet
9
make dull or blunt wordnet
10
make numb or insensitive wordnet
11
deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-West Germanic *dol, from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, from earlier *dwulaz, 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).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

* As a German surname, from dialectal tull (“stout, corpulent”) (see the adjective doll), or a variant of Thiel. See Duell. * As a Scottish surname, it is a habitational name from Dull in Perthshire (see Etymology 2). * As an English surname, variant of Dill, Doel.

Etymology 4

Possibly from Pictish [Term?], cognate with Proto-Brythonic *dol (“meadow”).

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