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e of hearing, either wholly or in part; unable to perceive sounds; hard of hearing; as, a deaf man. Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf. Shak.

A person who is deaf and dumb; one who, through deprivation or defect of hearing, has either failed the acquire the power of speech, or has lost it. [See Illust. of Dactylology.] Deaf-mutes are still so called, even when, by artificial methods, they have been taught to speak imperfectly.

The condition of being a deaf-mute.

To make deaf; to deprive of the power of hearing; to render incapable of perceiving sounds distinctly. Deafened and stunned with their promiscuous cries. Addison.

The act or process of rendering impervious to sound, as a floor or wall; also, the material with which the spaces are filled in this process; pugging.

Without sense of sounds; obscurely.

llingness to hear; voluntary rejection of what is addressed to the understanding. Nervous deafness, a variety of deafness dependent upon morbid change in some portion of the nervous system, especially the auditory nerve.

As deaf as a stone; completely deaf.

To free from deafness; to cause to hear. [Obs.] Shak.

The simplest rudiments; elements. The very alphabet of our law. Macaulay. Deaf and dumb alphabet. See Dactylology.

ment which, placed against the teeth, conveys sound to the auditory nerve and enables the deaf to hear more or less distinctly; a dentiphone.

hich is borne with labor or difficulty; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive. Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, To all my friends a burden grown. Swift.

he hands and fingers; a substitute for spoken or written language in intercourse with the deaf and dumb. See Dactylalogy.

A condition produced by the excessive or long-continued use of quinine, and marked by deafness, roaring in the ears, vertigo, etc.

A noisy boaster; a swaggering fellow. [Obs.] What cracker is this same that deafs our ears Shak.

ertain movements and positions of the fingers; -- a method of conversing practiced by the deaf and dumb.

To stun or stupefy with noise; to deafen. [Scot.]

Deaf. [Obs.] Chaucer.

purpose, state, or act. My common illness disqualifies me for all conversation; I mean my deafness. Swift. Me are not disqualified by their engagements in trade from being received in high society. Southey.

To deafen with noise. [Obs.] Halliwell.