dullard

►                PAIN, 5 not very severe, but continuous it W: a dull ache/pain it it

►                PERSON A 6 slow in understanding jg 1% (ft ; M 7 HU STUPID: a dull pupil

►                TRADE J? 7 (especially NAmE) not busy; slow

1$; W: Don’t sell into a dull market. AHflJ

**«mr***«.

► dull ness noun [U] dully /'dAlli/ adv.: ‘I suppose so/ she said dully.        0 His leg

ached dully. jtfe^Jiiiiitf^^io IT»T?7I (as) dull as 'ditch- water (BrE) (US (as) dull as 'dishwater) extremely boring   fcWtfiM — more at work n.

m verb

►                 PAIN ^ M 1 (of pain or an emotion    ^ 'If) to

become or be made weaker or less severe  ( {£ )

A: [VN] The tablets they gave him dulled the pain for a while.        WMTiMo [also V]

►                PERSON A 2 [VN] to make a person slower or less lively

He felt dulled and stupid with sleep.

►                COLOURS, SOUNDS ff*M\ r* If 3 to become or to make sth less bright, clean or sharp (

IS,    [V] His eyes dulled and he slumped to the

ground, ffe IS 111 — H fi i ifo #!!l ■Jfe ±« 0 [VN] The endless rain seemed to dull all sound.

dull ard /'dAlaid; NAmE -laird/ noun (old-fashioned) a stupid person with no imagination (     ) A

W, HA

dulls ville /'dAlzvil/ noun [U] (NAmE, informal) a place or situation which is extremely boring 'tft N 5. (ft Hfe A

(IMK3U

dull- witted adj. (old-fashioned) not understanding quickly or easily tfH’ifftfft;     HU stupid

duly /‘djuili; NAmE'duili/ adv. 1 (formal) in the correct or expected manner if ^ ffe; ^      : The document was

duly signed by the inspector, j&ffr 2 at the expected and correct time gcWi; rUB'tiffe; il N’Sfe: They duly arrived at 9.30 in spite of torrential rain.   fMlfJ3£ 9:30

— compare unduly

dumb /dAm/ adj., verb

madj. (dumber, dumb est) 1 (old-fashioned, sometimes offensive) unable to speak ; A16 ift (tfJ: She was bom deaf and dumb, i0 liNHa Dumb used in this meaning is old-fashioned and can be offen­sive. It is better to use speech-impaired instead. *

dumbnsmtwMn, mu

speech-impaired ft 1L „     2 temporarily not speaking or

refusing to speak ^ frf ij£ A ft (ft; A#JFP(ft: We were all struck dumb with amazement. 1^1,1$ Aftit^o 0 We sat there in dumb silence.

M, itMAilf, 3 (informal, especially NAmE) stupid MM (ft; {Jg (ft; (ft: That was a pretty dumb thing to do. fftIP # (ft ♦ A M M 7 o 0 If the police question you, act dumb (= pretend you do not know anything).

# |'n], ffc ifc ^ H o O In her early movies she played a dumb blonde.    mm

ft $ 0 ► dumbly adv. : ‘Are you all right?’ Laura

nodded dumbly.        ” mmJGkttl&T

dumb ness noun [U]

■ verb Wsl:^l dumb down | .dumb sth^ down (disap­proving) to make sth less accurate or educational, and of worse quality, by trying to make it easier for people to understand (

► .dumbing 'down noqn [U]

.dumb 'animal noun [usually pi.] (BrE) an animal, espe­cially when seen as deserving pity ( A fa RTt£EEl£ft )

'dumb-ass adj. [only before noun] (NAmE, taboo, slang) stupid j&SM;

'dumb-bell noun 1 a short bar with a weight at each end, used for making the arm and shoulder muscles stronger 2 (NAmE, informal) a stupid person 711;

barbell ft#    dumb-bell

dumb-found /dAm'faund/ verb [VN] to surprise or shock sb so much that they are unable to speak 7: His reply dumbfounded me. ffe(ftlHl^fl^®#So dumbfounded /dAm'faundid/ (also less frequent dumb-struck /’dAmstrAk/) adj. unable to speak because of surprise 7 T (ft: The news left her dumbfounded.

dumbo /'dAmbau; NAmE -bou/ noun (pi. -oes) (informal) a stupid person 7®; Mffi; 77 dumb-show /'dAmJau; NAmE-Jou/ noun [U, C] = mime .dumb 'waiter noun a small lift/elevator for carrying food and plates from one floor to another in a restaurant (

dum-dum /'dAmdAm/ (also .dumdum 'bullet) noun a bullet that spreads out and breaks into many pieces when it hits sb j&Jt# (        ) ffliTfcTRi

It is named after the factory at Dumdum near Calcutta in India, where such bullets were originally made. They are now illegal. U S 7EP&JJU

dummy (BrE) pacifier (NAmE)

dummy /'dAmi/ noun, adj.

m noun (pi. -ies) 1 [C] a model of a person, used especially when making clothes or for showing them in a shop window ( Xftmmftm*) AftjfSA a tailor’s dummy iilS WiiA 2 [C] a thing that seems to be real but is only a copy of the real thing ffrffcfl mi; $]&$) 3 [C] (NAmE, informal) a stupid person    M

®: Don’t just stand there, you dummy. #i] IP J L 7 M M, jft&AHDIo 4 [c] (in some sports   an

occasion when you pretend to pass the ball to another player and then do not do so fjgff $c; {gzjtl# 5 [C] (BrE) (NAmE paci-fler) a specially shaped rubber or plastic object for a baby to suck       ;       6 [U] (in

card games, especially bridge     the

cards which are placed facing upwards on the table and which can be seen by all the players ■ adj. [only before noun] made to look real, although it is actually a copy which does not work fig HU replica: a dummy bomb

.dummy 'run noun (BrE) a practice attack, perform­ance, etc. before the real one M >|; WM HU dry run dump /dAmp/ verb, noun m verb [VN]