different between dumb vs twit

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Etymology 1

From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb?- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).

The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on.

Adjective

dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)

1. (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech (kept in "deaf, dumb, and blind").

   Synonyms: dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless

   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures

2. (dated) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act II, sc. 4:

     Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak

     In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 23:

     O let my books be then the eloquence

     And dumb presagers of my speaking breast ...

   • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry

     to pierce into the dumb past

3. (informal, derogatory, especially of a person) Extremely stupid.

   Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid

4. (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.

   Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar

5. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
   • 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton

     Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dumben, from Old English dumbian (more commonly in compound ?dumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijan?, *dumb?n? (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb?- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).

Verb

dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)

1. (dated) To silence.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, Act I, sc. 5:

     ... what I would have spoke

     Was beastly dumbed by him.
2. (transitive) To make stupid.
3. (transitive) To represent as stupid.
4. (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.

Derived terms

Middle English

Alternative forms

• domb, doumb, dowmb, dom, domm, dum, doum, dowm, domp, doump

Etymology

From Old English dumb

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dum(b)/, /?du?m(b)/

Adjective

dumb (plural and weak singular dumbe)

1. Lacking or failing to display the faculty of voice:
   1. Unspeaking; unable to speak or having muteness.
   2. (substantive) A mute; one who can't speak.
   3. Temporarily unable to speak due to strong emotions.
   4. Unwilling or reluctant to speak; not speaking.
2. Powerless, ineffectual (either inherently or due to events)
3. Unknowledgeable; having no understanding or sense.
4. (of animals) Unwilling or unable to make a noise; quiet or silent.
5. (rare) Unrevealing, useless; having no important messages or lessons.
6. (rare) Having nothing to keep one busy or engaged.
7. (rare, figuratively) Refusing to preach or evangelise.
8. (rare, figuratively) Refusing to be conceited or vainglorious.

Derived terms

• dombenesse
• dumben

Descendants

• English: dumb
• Scots: dumb

References

• “d?mb, d?umb, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-27.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *dumb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dumb/

Adjective

dumb

1. mute, dumb (unable to speak)
2. (substantive) a mute
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 11:14

Declension

Related terms

• dumbnes

Descendants

• Middle English: dumb
  • Scots: dumb
  • English: dumb

English

Etymology

Originally twite, an aphetism of Middle English atwite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tw?t/, [t?w??t]
• Rhymes: -?t

Verb

twit (third-person singular simple present twits, present participle twitting, simple past and past participle twitted)

1. (transitive) To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease.
   • 1590, Shakespeare. History of Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I

     "Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here

     With ignominious words, though clerkly couch'd,

     As if she had suborned some to swear

     False allegations to o'erthrow his state? " -

   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, Romiero, Act 3, p.55.

     "Nay, do not twit me now with all the freaks,
     And levities, and gambols charged upon me
     By every lean-faced dame that wears a hood."

   • 1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ?ISBN, page 106:

     Mr. Cramer, a policeman, came this morning and twitted me for having let a murderer hoodwink me.

   • 2007, Bernard Porter, "Did He Puff his Crimes to Please a Bloodthirsty Readership?", review of Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal, London Review of Books, 5 April, 29:7, p. 10

     H. R. Fox Bourne, secretary of the Aborigines' Protection Society – often twitted for being an ‘armchair critic’ – wrote in a review of one of Stanley's books […]

   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Folly of Scoffing at Religion

     This […] these scoffers twitted the Christian with.
2. (transitive, computing) To ignore or killfile (a user on a bulletin board system).
   • 1995, "Michelle Jackson", Debutante/Question about Tori Shirts (on newsgroup rec.music.tori-amos)

     However, on the Internet BBS's such as Quartz (now dead), Prism, Monsoon, Sunset, ect^[sic], someone pulling that kind of crap is likely to get flamed quite fast and twitted before he/she can breathe.

   • 2002, "Chris Hoppman", FidoNet Feed Needed (on newsgroup alt.bbs)

     And no, there is no "thought purification program" that can filter out some folks^[sic] obscene ideas that can be expressed w/o written vulgarities. That has to be simply "dealt" with, either by ignoring or twitting the individual that offends habitually.

Translations

Noun

twit (plural twits)

1. A reproach, gibe or taunt.
2. A foolish or annoying person.
   • 1988, Larry Kramer, Just Say No

     What do you mean, since when did I become such a radical fairy? Since I started knowing twits like you, you twit!

3. A euphemism for "twat", a contemptible or stupid person.
   • 2009, David Cameron

     "Too many twits make a twat." He was subsequently pilloried for not knowing that "twat" is actually very rude, and for not realising that one is a euphemism for the other.

     https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jul/29/david-cameron-apology-radio-twitter

4. A person who twitters, i.e. chatters inanely (see usage notes).

Usage notes

In the UK, the word "twit" for a person is usually used in a humorous or affectionate manner.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Derived terms

• twitling

Translations

Anagrams

• Witt

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twit/

Noun

twit m (plural twits)

1. (Quebec, colloquial) twit (foolish person)
2. a tweet (a message on Twitter)

Synonyms

• (Twitter): tweet

Related terms

• (Twitter): twitter

Spanish

Noun

twit m (plural twits)

1. tweet (message on Twitter)