Dull — Defs

01 a. Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish.

1.
Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish.
“She is not bred so dull but she can learn.” — Shak.
2.
Slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward.
“This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.” — Matt. xiii. 15.

“O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.” — Spenser.
3.
Insensible; unfeeling.
“Think me not So dull a devil to forget the loss Of such a matchless wife.” — Beau. & Fl.
4.
Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt.
5.
Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror.
6.
Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert.
“As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.” — Longfellow.
7.
Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day.
“Along life's dullest, dreariest walk.” — Keble.

02 v. t. To deprive of sharpness of edge or point.

imp. & p. p. Duller; p. pr. & vb. n. Dulling

1.
To deprive of sharpness of edge or point.
“Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” — Shak.
2.
To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.
“Those [drugs] she has Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.” — Shak.

“Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.” — Trench.
3.
To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
4.
To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.
“Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through continuance.” — Hooker.

03 v. i. To become dull or stupid.