dumb-cake 
monies, by maids, to discover their future hus- 
bands. [Local, Eng.] 
dumb-cane (dum'kan), . An araceous plant 
of the West Indies, Die/enbachia Seguiiie: so 
called from the fact that its acridity causes 
swelling of the tongue when chewed, and de- 
stroys the power of speech. 
dumb-chalder (dum'chal"der), n. In ship-build- 
ing, a metal cleat bolted to the after part of 
the stern-post, for one of the rudder-pintles to 
play on. 
dumb-craft (dum'kraft), An instrument 
somewhat similar to the screw-jack, having 
wheels and pinions which protrude a ram, the 
point of which communicates the power. 
dumbfound, dumbfounder. See dumfound, 
duiiifnunder. 
durable 1 (dum'bl), a. [E. dial., < dumb + dim. 
or freq. term, -fe'.] Stupid ; very dull. Halli- 
dumble' 2 t (dum'bl), . [E. dial., = dimble, q. v.] 
Same as dimble. 
dumbledore (dum'bl-dor), n. [E. dial., also 
written dumblcdor; < "dumble = D. dommelen, 
buzz, mumble, slumber, doze (perhaps ult. imi- 
tative, like bumble-, humblebee), + dore, dor, a 
bumblebee, a black beetle, a cockchafer : see 
dor 1 .] 1. The bumblebee. 
Betsy called it [the monk's hood] the dumbledore' a de- 
light. Soulhey, The Doctor, viii. 
2. The brown cockchafer. 
dumbly (dum'li), adv. [< dumb + -fy 2 .] Mute- 
ly ; silently ; without speech or sound. 
Cross her hands humbly, 
As if praying dumbly, 
Over her breast. Hood, Bridge of Sighs. 
dumbness (dum'nes), . 1. Muteness ; silence; 
abstention from speech ; absence of sound. 
Take hence that once a king ; that sullen pride 
That swells to dumbness. 
Dryden, Don Sebastian, HI. 1. 
2. Incapacity for speaking ; inability to utter 
articulate sounds. See deafness. 
In the first case the demoniac or madman was dumb ; 
and his dumbness probably arose from the natural turn 
of his disorder. 
Farmer, Demoniacs of New Testament, i. 5. 
dumb-show (dum'sho'), n. 1. A part of a 
dramatic representation shown pantomimi- 
cally, chiefly for the sake of exhibiting more 
of the story than could be otherwise included, 
but sometimes merely emblematical. Dumb- 
shows were very common in the earlier English 
dramas. 
Groundlings who, for the most part, are capable of no- 
thing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise. 
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 
The Julian feast is to-day, the country expects me ; I 
speak all the dumb-shows : my sister chosen for a nymph. 
Fletcher ami Rowley, Maid in the Mill, ii. 1. 
2. Gesture without words ; pantomime : as, to 
tell a story in dumb-show. 
dumb-Waiter (dum'wa'ter), . A framework 
with shelves, placed between a kitchen and a 
dining-room for conveying food, etc. When the 
kitchen is in the basement story the dumb-waiter is bal- 
anced by weights, so as to move readily up and down by the 
agency of cords and pulleys. The name is also given to a 
small table or stand, sometimes with a revolving top, placed 
at a person's side in the dining-room, to hold dessert, etc., 
until required. 
Mr. Meagles . . . gave a turn to the dumb-waiter on his 
right hand to twirl the sugar towards himself. 
Dickens, Little Dorrit, i. 16. 
dumetose (du'me-tos), a. [< L. dumetum, dum- 
metum, OL. dumectum, a thicket, < dumus, a 
bramble: see dumal,'} In bot., bush-like. 
dumfound, dumbfound (dum-found'), v. t. 
[Orig. a dial, or slang word, < dumb 4- appar. 
-found in confound.'] To strike dumb ; confuse ; 
stupefy; confound. 
Words which would choke a Dutchman or a Jew, 
Dumfound Old Nick, and which from me or you 
Could not be forced by ipecacuanha, 
I imp from his oratorio lips like manna. Southey. 
I waited doggedly to hear him [Landor] begin his cele- 
bration of them [pictures], dumfounded between my moral 
obligation to be as truthful as I dishonestly could and my 
social duty not to give offense to my host. 
Lou-ell, The Century, XXXV. 514. 
dumfounder, dumbfounder (dum-foun'der), 
r. t. [Another form of dumfound, apparent- 
ly simulating founder^, sink.] Same as dum- 
found. [Rare.] 
There is but one way to browbeat this world, 
Dumbfounder doubt, and repay scorn in kind 
To go on trusting, namely, till faith move 
Mountains. Browning, King and Book, I. 114. 
Dumicola (du-mik'o-lS), n. [NL. (Swainson, 
1831, as Dumecola),'<. L. dumus, a bramble, + 
colere, inhabit.] A genus of South American 
1796 
tyrant flycatchers, of the family Tyrannidce, 
containing such species as D. diops. Also 
called Musciphaga and Hemitriceus. 
dummador (dum'a-dor), . Same as dumble- 
dore. 
dummerert (dum'er-er), n. [< dumb + double 
suffix -cr-er."] A dumb person ; especially, one 
who feigns dumbness. 
Equall to the Cranck in dissembling is the Dummerar; 
for, as the other takes vpon him to haue the falling sick- 
nesse, so this counterfets Dumbnes. 
Dekker, Belman of London (ed. 1608), sig. D, 3. 
Every village almost will yield abundant testimonies 
[of counterfeits] amongst us ; we have dvmmtrtrt, &c. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 159. 
dumminess (dum'i-nes), n. The character of 
being dumb ; stupidity. 
A little anecdote . . . which . . . strikingly illustrates 
the dumminess of a certain class of the English popula- 
tion. C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 292, note. 
dummy (dum'i), n. and a. [= Sc. dumbic; 
dim. of dumb, duni.] I. n.; pi. dummies (-iz). 
1. One who is dumb; a dumb person; a mute. 
[Colloq.] 2. One who is silent ; specifically, 
in tlieat,, a person on the stage who appears be- 
fore the lights, but has nothing to say. 3. One 
who or that which lacks the reality, force, func- 
tion, etc. , which it appears to possess; some- 
thing that imitates a reality- in a mechanical 
way or for a mechanical purpose. Specifically 
(a) Some object made up to deceive, as a sham package, 
a wooden cheese, an imitation drawer, etc. (d) Some- 
thing used as a block or model in exhibiting articles of 
dress, etc. (c) A specimen or sample of the size and 
appearance of something which is to be made, as a book 
composed of sheets of blank paper bound together, (d) 
Something employed to occupy or mark temporarily a par- 
ticular space in any arrangement of a number of articles. 
4. In mech. : (a) A dumb-waiter. (6) A loco- 
motive with a condensing-engine, and hence 
avoiding the noise of escaping steam : used es- 
pecially for moving railroad-cars in the streets 
of a city, or combined in one with a passenger- 
car for local or street traffic, (c) The name 
given by firemen to one of the jets from the 
mains or chief water-pipes, (d) A hatters' 
pressing-iron. 5. In card-playing: (.) An ex- 
posed hand of cards, asm whist when three play. 
(6) A game of whist in which three play, the 
fourth hand being placed face up. One player, 
with this and his own hand, plays against the 
other two Double dummy, a game at whist with 
only two players, each having two hands of cards, one of 
them exposed. 
II. n. If. Silent; mute. Clarke. 2. Sham; 
fictitious; feigned: as, a dummy watch. 
About 1770 it became fashionable to wear two watches ; 
but this was an expensive luxury, and led to the manufac- 
ture of dummy watches. 
F. Vors, Bibelots and Curios, p. 83. 
It is also probable that farms made up in whole or part 
of land obtained by dummy entries would, for some time 
at least, be returned as having separate owners and there- 
fore as separate farms. N. A. Rev., CXLII. 388. 
Dumont's blue. See Hue, n. 
dumortierite (du-mdr'ter-it), n. [After M. 
Eugene Dumortier.~\ A silicate of aluminium 
of a bright-blue color, occurring in fibrous forms 
in the gneiss of Chaponost near Lyons, and else- 
where. 
dumose, dumous (du'mos, du'mus), a. [< L. 
dumosus, dummosus, OL. dusmosus, bushy, < du- 
mus, a thorn-bush, a bramble : see dumal.] 1. 
In hot., having a compact, bushy form. 2. 
Abounding in bushes and briers. 
dump 1 (dump), n. [< "dump, adj., Sc. dumpli, 
dull, insipid ; prob. < Dan. dump, dull, low, hol- 
low, = G. dumpf, damp, musty, dull, esp. of 
sound, low, heavy, indistinct, muffled (< MHO. 
dimpfen, steam, reek); cf. D. dompig, damp, 
hazy, misty, = LG. dumpig, damp, musty, = 
Sw. dial, dumpin, melancholy (pp. of dimba, 
steam, reek), Sw. dumpig, damp: see below. 
Cf . D. dampen, quench, put out ; from the same 
source as damp, q. v.] 1. A dull, gloomy state 
of the mind; sadness; melancholy; sorrow; 
heaviness of heart: as, to be in the dumps. 
[Regularly used only in the plural, and usually 
in a humorous or derogatory sense.] 
Some of our poore familie be fallen into such dumpes, 
that scantly can any such cumfort as my poore uit can 
geue them any thing asswage their sorow. 
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), fol. 3. 
Why, how now, daughter Katharine? In your dumps? 
Shak., T. of the S., ii. 1. 
Gent. But where's my lady? 
Pet. In her old dumps within, monstrous melancholy. 
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, v. 2. 
His head like one in doleful dtnnp 
Between his knees. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, II. i. 106. 
I know not whether it was the dumps or a budding ec- 
stasy. Thoreau, Walden, p. 242. 
dump 
2t. Meditation; reverie. Locke. 3. pi. Twi- 
light. [Proy. Eng.] 4f. (a) A slow dance 
with a peculiar rhythm. 
And then they would have handled me a new way ; 
The devil's dump had been danc'd then. 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, v. 4. 
(6) Music for such a dance. 
Visit by night your lady's chamber-window 
With some sweet concert: to their instruments 
Tune a deploring dump. Shak., T. G. of V., iii. 2. 
(c) Any tune. 
0, play me some merry dump, to comfort me. 
Shak., R. and J., iv. 5. 
dump 2 (dump), v. [< ME. dumpen, rarely dam- 
pen, tr. cast down suddenly, intr. fall down sud- 
denly (not in AS.); = Norw. dumpa, fall down 
suddenly, fall or leap into the water, = Sw. dial. 
dumpa, make a noise, dance clumsily, dompa, 
fall down suddenly,=Icel. dumpa (once), thump, 
= Dan. dumpe, intr. thump, plump, tr. dip, as 
a gun, = D. dampen, tr., dip, as a gun, dompclcn, 
tr., plunge, dip, immerse, = LG. dumpeln, intr., 
drift about, be tossed by wind and waves ; all 
from a strong verb repr. by Sw. dimpa, pret. 
damp, pp. neut. dumpit, fall down, plump. Cf. 
thump.] I. trans. 1. To throw down violently ; 
plunge; tumble. [Obsolete, except as a col- 
loquialism in the United States : as, the bully 
was dumped into the street.] 
Than sail the rainbow descend. . . . 
Wit[h] the wind than sail it mell, 
And driue tham dun all vntil hell 
And dump the deuls [devils) thider in. 
Cursor Mundi, 1. 22639. 
Kene men sail the kepe, 
And do the dye on a day, 
And damp the in the depe. 
Minot, Poems (ed. Eitson), p. 47. 
2. To put or throw down, as a mass or load 
of anything; unload; especially, to throw down 
or cause to fall out by tilting up a cart: as, to 
dump a stickful of type (said by printers) ; to 
dump bricks, or a load of brick. [U. S.] 
The equipage of the campaign is dumped near the store- 
cabin. W. Barrows, Oregon, p. 137. 
Dumped like a load of coal at every door. 
Lowell, To G. W. Curtis. 
3. To plunge into. [Scotch.] 4. To knock 
heavily. [Prov. Eng.] 
II. intrans. If. To fall or plunge down sud- 
denly. 
Vp so doun schal ye dumpe depe to the abyme. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 362. 
The folke in the Mete felly thai drownen : 
Thai dump in the depe, and to dethe passe. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13289. 
2. To unload a cart by tilting it up; dispose 
of a refuse load by throwing it out at a certain 
place: as, you must not dump there. [U.S.] 
3. In printing, to remove type from the stick and 
place it on the galley: as, where shall I dumpt 
dump 2 (dump), n. [= Norw. dump, a sudden fall 
or plunge, also the sound of something falling, 
also a gust of wind, a squall, = Dan. dump, 
the sound of something falling ; from the verb. 
Hence dumpy, dumpling.'] 1. The sound of a 
heavy object falling; a thud. 2. Anything 
short, thick, and heavy. Hence 3. A clumsy 
medal of lead formerly made by casting in 
moist sand ; specifically, a leaden counter used 
by boys at chuckfarthing and similar games. 
The dumps still existing are generally impressed with char- 
acters, often letters, perhaps the initials of the maker. 
Thy taws are brave, thy tops are rare, 
Our tops are spun with coils of care, 
Our dumps are no delight. 
Hood, Ode on Prospect of Clapham Academy. 
4. A small coin of Australia. 
The small colonial coin denominated dumps have all 
been called in. Sydney Gazette, January, 1S23. 
If the dollar passes current for five shillings, the iinm/i 
lays claim to fifteen pence value still in silver money. 
Sydney Gazette, January, 1823. 
5. pi. Money; "chink." [Slang.] 
May I venture to say when a gentleman jumps 
In the river at midnight for want of the dumps, 
He rarely puts on his knee-breeches and pumps? 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 37. 
6. A place for the discharge of loads from 
carts, trucks, etc., by dumping; a place of de- 
Fosit for offal, rubbish, or any coarse material. 
U.S.] 
A sort of platform on the edge of the dump. There, in 
old days, the trucks were tipped and the loads sent thun- 
dering down the chute. The Century, XXVII. I'll. 
We sat by the margin of the iliiniti and saw, far below 
us, the green tree-tops standing still in the clear air. 
The Centura, XXVII. 38. 
The next point is to get sufficient grade or fall to carry 
away the immense masses of debris : that is, the miner 
has to look out for his "dump." 
Eissler, Hod. High Explosives, p. 278. 
