deadenv.
I. To become dead, and related uses.
1. intransitive. To become dead (literal and figurative); to lose vitality, force, vigour, brightness, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > become less violent or severe [verb (intransitive)] > lose vigour or intensity
swindOE
wane1297
forslacka1300
keelc1325
deadc1384
abatea1387
flag1639
to go off1642
subsidea1645
slacken1651
flat1654
lower1699
relax1701
deaden1723
entame1768
sober1825
lighten1827
sletch1847
slow1849
languish1855
bate1860
to slow up1861
to slow down1879
1723 London Gaz. No. 6171/3 The Wind deadning..we could not make the Way we expected.
1801 R. Southey Thalaba II. xii. 305 The dash Of the out-breakers deaden'd.
1835 New Monthly Mag. 43 157 The bells, which you hear loudly at first, begin to deaden.
1869 J. R. Lowell Pictures from Appledore vi Yet they momently cool and dampen and deaden.
II. transitive. To deprive of life, vitality, etc.
2.
a. To deprive of life, kill (e.g. the tissues).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (transitive)]
swevec725
quelmeOE
slayc893
quelleOE
of-falleOE
ofslayeOE
aquellc950
ayeteeOE
spillc950
beliveOE
to bring (also do) of (one's) life-dayOE
fordoa1000
forfarea1000
asweveOE
drepeOE
forleseOE
martyrOE
to do (also i-do, draw) of lifeOE
bringc1175
off-quellc1175
quenchc1175
forswelta1225
adeadc1225
to bring of daysc1225
to do to deathc1225
to draw (a person) to deathc1225
murder?c1225
aslayc1275
forferec1275
to lay to ground, to earth (Sc. at eird)c1275
martyrc1300
strangle1303
destroya1325
misdoa1325
killc1330
tailc1330
to take the life of (also fro)c1330
enda1340
to kill to (into, unto) death1362
brittena1375
deadc1374
to ding to deathc1380
mortifya1382
perisha1387
to dight to death1393
colea1400
fella1400
kill out (away, down, up)a1400
to slay up or downa1400
swelta1400
voida1400
deliverc1400
starvec1425
jugylc1440
morta1450
to bring to, on, or upon (one's) bierc1480
to put offc1485
to-slaya1500
to make away with1502
to put (a person or thing) to silencec1503
rida1513
to put downa1525
to hang out of the way1528
dispatch?1529
strikea1535
occidea1538
to firk to death, (out) of lifec1540
to fling to deathc1540
extinct1548
to make out of the way1551
to fet offa1556
to cut offc1565
to make away?1566
occise1575
spoil1578
senda1586
to put away1588
exanimate1593
unmortalize1593
speed1594
unlive1594
execute1597
dislive1598
extinguish1598
to lay along1599
to make hence1605
conclude1606
kill off1607
disanimate1609
feeze1609
to smite, stab in, under the fifth rib1611
to kill dead1615
transporta1616
spatch1616
to take off1619
mactate1623
to make meat of1632
to turn up1642
inanimate1647
pop1649
enecate1657
cadaverate1658
expedite1678
to make dog's meat of1679
to make mincemeat of1709
sluice1749
finisha1753
royna1770
still1778
do1780
deaden1807
deathifyc1810
to lay out1829
cool1833
to use up1833
puckeroo1840
to rub out1840
cadaverize1841
to put under the sod1847
suicide1852
outkill1860
to fix1875
to put under1879
corpse1884
stiffen1888
tip1891
to do away with1899
to take out1900
stretch1902
red-light1906
huff1919
to knock rotten1919
skittle1919
liquidate1924
clip1927
to set over1931
creasea1935
ice1941
lose1942
to put to sleep1942
zap1942
hit1955
to take down1967
wax1968
trash1973
ace1975
1807 S. Cooper First Lines Pract. Surg. I. i. xix. 82 By which..some of the fibres surrounding the wound are deadened.
1894 N.E.D. at Deaden Mod. To deaden the nerve of the tooth.
b. spec. (U.S.) To kill (trees) by ‘girdling’, i.e. cutting out a section of the bark all round; to clear (ground) by killing the trees in this manner.
ΚΠ
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 405 They deadened the trees by cutting through the bark.
1855 W. Sargent Braddock's Exped. 84 A good woodsman will soon deaden a number of acres, which by the next seed-time will be ready for cultivation.
3. figurative.
a. To deprive of vitality, force, or sensibility; to benumb, to dull.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > render physically insensible [verb (transitive)]
astone1340
dead1382
stony1382
dazea1400
astonish1530
benumb1530
mortifya1533
numb1561
dozen1576
pave1635
deaden1684
torpedoa1772
torpefy1808
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > make less violent or severe [verb (transitive)] > cause to lose vitality or vigour
languisha1464
castrate1554
damp1564
dead1586
flag1602
wooden1641
dispirit1647
deaden1684
disvigorate1694
devitalize1849
narcotize1852
wilt1855
woodenize1877
abirritate1882
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > pass (time) listlessly or lethargically [verb (transitive)] > make listless or lethargic > make dull or deprive of animation
obtunda1400
bedulla1617
hebescate1657
deaden1684
wash1846
1684 T. Burnet Theory of Earth i. iii. 18 We will..by a soft answer deaden their force by degrees.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 487. ¶3 That Activity which is natural to the Humane Soul, and which is not in the Power of Sleep to deaden or abate.
1798 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 205 It deadens also the demand for wheat.
1863 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gladiators II. 105 Any anodyne that could deaden or alleviate her pain.
1876 J. B. Mozley Univ. Serm. (1877) vi. 129 To benumb and deaden worship.
b. To render dead or insensible to.
ΚΠ
a1690 Bp. E. Hopkins Serm. Acts xxvi. 28 (R.) How deadned are they to those sinful ways, which before they much delighted in?
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §1. 447 Its [the Bible's] words..fell on ears which custom had not deadened to their force and beauty.
4. To deprive of some effective physical quality:
a. To deprive of lustre or brilliancy; to make dull in colour or aspect; to give a dull surface to (metal, glass, etc.): see dead adj. 13b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > dimness or absence of brightness > make dim [verb (transitive)] > deprive of lustre
distainc1385
disgloss1562
matt1602
dislustre1638
deaden1666
ungloss1873
delustre1927
1666 S. Pepys Diary 24 Oct. (1972) VII. 340 He..lays the fault..of it upon the Fire, which deadened..the glory of his services.
1706 A. Pope Corr. 2 July (1956) I. 19 In Painting, a Man may lay Colours one upon another, till they stiffen and deaden the Piece.
1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory iii. 91 How to deaden the Glass, and fit it for to paint upon.
1855 R. Owen Lect. Compar. Anat. Invertebr. Animals (ed. 2) ii [It] deadens the whiteness of the tissue.
Thesaurus »
b. To deprive (liquor) of sharpness or flavour, to make vapid.
Thesaurus »
c. To make (sound) dull or indistinct.
d. To reduce (quicksilver) from the liquid to the granular state in the process of amalgamation.
ΚΠ
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 208 Nothing..does more deaden and flat the Spirits, especially in green Herbs, than slack Fires.
1726 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey V. xxii. 284 With deaden'd sound, one on the threshold falls.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Deaden..to make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine or beer.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth iv, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 86 To shut out, or deaden at least, a sound so piercing.
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton ix. 121 The deadened tolling of a bell.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 126 Deadened Mercury.
e. To make impervious to sound; = deafen v. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > inaudibility > sound-proofing or conditioning > sound-proof [verb (transitive)]
deafena1830
deaden1901
1901 R. Sturgis Dict. Archit. I. 751/1 Deaden,..to construct so as to be dead, in the sense of..impervious to sound, as a floor which has been made non-conducting.
1926 ‘J. J. Connington’ Death at Swaythling Court vii. 121 The kitchen is next the workshop and the walls are very badly deadened, so I could hear voices talking next door.
5. To destroy or reduce the energy of (motion).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > absence of movement > render immobile [verb (transitive)] > stop the movement of
withdrawa1300
check1393
stayc1440
stopc1440
acheckc1450
dead1602
deaden1661
in1825
still1850
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing iv. 39 This motion would be quickly deadned..by counter-motions.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Deaden..3. To deaden the motion of a ship or of the wind.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Deaden a ship's way, to retard a vessel's progress by bracing in the yards.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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