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Dumb show   /dəm ʃoʊ/   Listen
adjective
Dumb  adj.  
1.
Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes. "To unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures."
2.
Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not accompanied by words; as, dumb show. "This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him." "To pierce into the dumb past."
3.
Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. (R.) "Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color."
4.
Lacking intelligence; having poor judgment; stupid; dull-witted; of persons.
5.
Exhibiting poor judgment or lack of wisdom; leading predictably to unfavorable consequences; of actions.
Deaf and dumb. See Deaf-mute.
Dumb ague, or Dumb chill, a form of intermittent fever which has no well-defined "chill." (U.S.)
Dumb animal, any animal except man; usually restricted to a domestic quadruped; so called in contradistinction to man, who is a "speaking animal."
Dumb cake, a cake made in silence by girls on St. Mark's eve, with certain mystic ceremonies, to discover their future husbands.
Dumb cane (Bot.), a west Indian plant of the Arum family (Dieffenbachia seguina), which, when chewed, causes the tongue to swell, and destroys temporarily the power of speech.
Dumb crambo. See under crambo.
Dumb show.
(a)
Formerly, a part of a dramatic representation, shown in pantomime. "Inexplicable dumb shows and noise."
(b)
Signs and gestures without words; as, to tell a story in dumb show.
To strike dumb, to confound; to astonish; to render silent by astonishment; or, it may be, to deprive of the power of speech.
Synonyms: Silent; speechless; noiseless. See Mute.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Dumb show" Quotes from Famous Books



... taking leave of one another, a company of strolling players were exhibiting in an extemporary theatre, and here Hal incited both the youths to obtain seats. The drama was on one of the ordinary and frequent topics of that, as of all other times, and the dumb show and gestures were far more effective than the words, so that even those who did not understand the language of the comedians, who seemed to be Italians, could enter into it, especially as it was interspersed with ...
— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte M. Yonge
... and the next day nothing else could be thought of or talked of. The Indians were questioned in dumb show, with the skin of the trogon for a text, and we got on more, Uncle Dick's spirits rising as it grew more plainly that the Indian fully understood about the birds we wanted. In fact, in dumb show he at last began to teach us ...
— Through Forest and Stream - The Quest of the Quetzal • George Manville Fenn
... of within the close crowded room; at any rate he suggested it to Jacker McKnight, commonly known as Jacker Mack, and now after an hour of it the boys were still jubilant. The game had to be played with great caution, and conversation was conducted in whispers when ideas could not be conveyed in dumb show. All that was going on in the room above was distinctly audible to the deserters below, and the joy of camping there out of the reach of Joel Ham, B.A., and beyond all the trials and tribulations of the Higher Fifth, and hearing other fellows being tested, and hectored, and caned, was ...
— The Gold-Stealers - A Story of Waddy • Edward Dyson
... himself into an arm-chair, and began to turn over the leaves. After a few minutes he became absorbed. It was the strangest book that he had ever read. It seemed to him that in exquisite raiment, and to the delicate sound of flutes, the sins of the world were passing in dumb show before him. Things that he had dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real to him. Things of which he had ...
— The Picture of Dorian Gray • Oscar Wilde
... the 'talkies' and the movies, however." [He refers to musical comedy as the "screamies."] "The play in the theatre is largely a matter of pantomime, you know. Dialogue is employed to advance the actual plot only when it is impossible or impracticable to do it with dumb show. And when I think of some of the lines I've been called upon to spout, I can't say that I regret the ...
— Laugh and Live • Douglas Fairbanks


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