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To beat to obtuseness; to deprive of keenness; to blunt; to turn back the point of, as a lance used for exercise. But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge. Shak.

To blunt; to turn, as an edge; figuratively, to cause to be obtuse or dull; as, to retund confidence. Ray. Cudworth.

A blunt lance head used in the joust. Congreve rocket, a powerful form of rocket for use in war, invented by Sir William Congreve. It may be used either in the field or for bombardment; in the former case, it is armed with shells or case shot; in the latter, with a combustible material inclosed in a metallic case, whic…

Having a very thin edge or fine point; of a nature to cut or pierce easily; not blunt or dull; keen. He dies upon my scimeter's sharp point. Shak.

To obtund or blunt, as acrimonious substances, or sharp particles. [R.] Arbuthnot. To sheathe the sword, to make peace.

The common Lepisma, or furniture bug. Blunt-nosed shiner (Zoöl.), the silver moonfish.

t; turned outward; hence, flat; ungainly; as, splay shoulders. Sonwthing splay, something blunt-edged, unhandy, and infelicitous. M. Arnold.

The short blunt part of anything after larger part has been broken off or used up; hence, anything short and thick; as, the stub of a pencil, candle, or cigar.

Reduced to a stub; short and thick, like something truncated; blunt; obtuse.

To make stupid; to make dull; to blunt the faculty of perception or understanding in; to deprive of sensibility; to make torpid. The fumes of drink discompose and stupefy the brain. South.

ients in writing on tablets covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of making erasures by smoothing the wax.

The moonfish, or bluntnosed shiner.

"Country swains, and silly swads." Greene. There was one busy fellow was their leader, A blunt, squat swad, but lower than yourself. B. Jonson.

A small blunt-pointed bistoury, -- used in syringotomy.

A blow or knock, as with something blunt or heavy; a heavy fall. The watchman gave so great a thump at my door, that I awaked at the knock. Tatler.

Shaped like a tongue; specifically (Bot.), linear or oblong, and fleshy, blunt at the end, and convex beneath; as, a tongue-shaped leaf.

an obstacle in the way of; to obstruct; to cause to fail. To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword. Shak.

-- To turn the edge or point of, to bend over the edge or point of so as to make dull; to blunt. -- To turn the head or brain of, to make giddy, wild, insane, or the like; to infatuate; to overthrow the reason or judgment of; as, a little success turned his head. -- To turn the scale or balance, to change the prepond…

To deprive of the edge; to blunt. J. Fletcher.

Not gentle; lacking good breeding or delicacy; harsh. Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind. Shak. That ungentle flavor which distinguishes nearly all our native and uncultivated grapes. Hawthorne. -- Un*gen"tle*ness, n. -- Un*gen"tly, adv.