deafen
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From deaf + -en (verbal suffix), compare Middle English deven, deaven (“to make deaf”), Old English ādēafian (“to deafen”), Dutch verdoven (“to stupefy, deafen”), German betäuben (“to stun, stupefy, deafen”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈdɛfən/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛfən
Verb
[edit]deafen (third-person singular simple present deafens, present participle deafening, simple past and past participle deafened)
- (transitive) To make deaf, either temporarily or permanently.
- (transitive) To make soundproof.
- to deafen a wall or a floor
- (transitive, rare, dialectal, sometimes figurative) To stun, as with noise.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- Racine left the ground […] deafened, dazzled and tired to death.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to make deaf
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to make soundproof
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰewbʰ-
- English terms suffixed with -en (inchoative)
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛfən
- Rhymes:English/ɛfən/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with rare senses
- English dialectal terms
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