Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Partially or completely lacking in the sense of hearing.
- adj. Of or relating to the Deaf or their culture.
- adj. Unwilling or refusing to listen; heedless: was deaf to our objections.
- n. Deaf people considered as a group. Used with the.
- n. The community of deaf people who use American Sign Language as a primary means of communication. Used with the.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Lacking the sense of hearing; insensible to sounds.
- Unable to hear, or to hear clearly, in consequence of some defect or obstruction in the organs of hearing; defective in ability to perceive or discriminate sounds; dull of hearing: as, a deaf man; to be deaf in one ear.
- Refusing to listen or to hear; unwilling to regard or give heed; unmoved or unpersuaded; insensible: as, deaf to entreaty; deaf to all argument or reason.
- Lacking sharpness or clearness; dull; stifled; obscurely heard; confused.
- Numb.
- Barren; sterile; blasted: as, deaf land; deaf corn.
- To make deaf; deprive of hearing; deafen; stun with noise.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not having the faculty of hearing, or only partially able to hear.
- adj. deaf
- n. Deaf people considered as a group.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Wanting the sense of hearing, either wholly or in part; unable to perceive sounds; hard of hearing.
- adj. Unwilling to hear or listen; determinedly inattentive; regardless; not to be persuaded as to facts, argument, or exhortation; -- with
to . - adj. Deprived of the power of hearing; deafened.
- adj. Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened.
- adj. Decayed; tasteless; dead.
- v. To deafen.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (usually followed by `to') unwilling or refusing to pay heed
- adj. lacking or deprived of the sense of hearing wholly or in part
- n. people who have severe hearing impairments
- v. make or render deaf
Etymologies
- Middle English def, deef, from Old English dēaf.
Examples
“Nothing personal, but the term deaf-mute is way, way out of style.”
“But I think theawesomerobot's point about iPods for the deaf is a good one.”
Is Sony legally required to make its games accessible to disabled people? - Boing Boing
“The temptation to discuss, solely in the light of Helen Keller, the whole matter of educating the deaf is a dangerous one, and one which I have not taken particular care to avoid, because my opinions are of no authority and I have merely tried to suggest problems and reinforce some of the main ideas expressed by Miss Sullivan, who is an authority.”
“He felt the ridicule which was attached to the mute character of the Legislative Body, which he called his deaf and dumb assembly.”
The Memoirs of Napoleon
“A teacher of the deaf cannot lose sight of the fact that in the term deaf, or deaf-mute, there are included at least four sub-classes, namely, the semi-mutes, who have lost their hearing after they had acquired more or less perfectly the use of language; the semi-deaf, who retain some power of hearing, but yet cannot attend with profit schools for hearing children; the congenitally deaf, possessing some ability to perceive sound; and the totally deaf from birth, who are unable to perceive sound.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy
“Via MeFi, where an interesting discussion about opposition in deaf communities to cochlear implants ensues.”
“Thus, Qin Lao's mute servant Zhou in Sichuan province (or, if you will, Qin Lao himself in his near-sterility), or Kyllikki a millennium later in the Village of the Sled Dogs, deaf from a fever, or noble Ming Tao born with”
“And I'm going to inject here that you prefer the word deaf, not hearing impaired.”
“Being deaf is a disability regardless of the strength of those who have it.”
“Ironically, while the debate rages in deaf education circles, sign language appears to be gaining popularity in the hearing world.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘deaf’.
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Noteworthy Words
Here I have in mind a list of words that could be spelled with only the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G--and thus could also be played as a tune on the piano.
face, ace, bag, cage, bad, fad, fade, fee, gee, beg, fed, deaf and 98 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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Capitonyms, capitonyms
Words that change meaning when capitalized
worms, welsh, turkey, time, tangier, tang, slough, seat, scotch, scone, said, russian and 70 more...
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