numb out

English

Verb

numb out (third-person singular simple present numbs out, present participle numbing out, simple past and past participle numbed out)

1. (intransitive) To make oneself numb, especially emotionally.
   • 1991 December 8, Liz Galst, “Gay Male Incest Survivors, Safer Sex, and AIDS”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 21, page 9:

     Because in childhood there is no opportunity to express this pain in a way that helps a survivor heal, s/he learns to numb out by necessity. Of course, different people numb out in different ways. The survivors I interviewed became alcoholics and drug addicts, some ate compulsively, […]

2. (transitive) To block or alleviate (pain, etc.) by inducing numbness.