different between numb vs gelid

English

Etymology

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”). The final ?b? is a later addition to the spelling; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?m, IPA^(key): /n?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Adjective

numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)

1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.

   Synonyms: deadened, insensible

2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.

   numb with shock; numb with boredom

   • 1915, Nellie McClung, In Times Like These, Toronto: McLeod & Allen, Chapter 2,^[1]

     […] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.

   • 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, 1992, Part One, p. 77,^[2]

     […] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.

   • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time, Random House Canada, Part Three,^[3]

     […] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.

   Synonym: stunned

3. (obsolete) Causing numbness.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 1,^[4]

     […] he did lap me

     Even in his own garments, and gave himself,

     All thin and naked to the numb cold night.

Antonyms

• sensible, sensitive

Derived terms

Related terms

• numskull

Translations

Verb

numb (third-person singular simple present numbs, present participle numbing, simple past and past participle numbed)

1. (transitive) To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).

   Synonym: benumb

2. (transitive) To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
   • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman” in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.,^[5]

     [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.

   Synonym: dull

3. (transitive) To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
   • 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 219,^[6]

     […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]

   • 1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6,^[7]

     The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.

   • 2004, Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe, Chapter 13,^[8]

     [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.

   Synonym: dull

4. (intransitive) To become numb (especially physically).
   • 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, Many Fronts, London: John Murray, “Wonders of the Teleferica,” p. 270,^[9]

     […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]

   • 1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, The Land of Strong Men, New York: H.K. Fly, Chapter 18,^[10]

     […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.

Derived terms

• mind-numbing

Translations

English

Etymology

First attested in 1630. From Latin gelidus (“cold”), from gelu (“frost”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?d??l.?d/

Adjective

gelid (comparative more gelid, superlative most gelid)

1. Very cold; icy or frosty.
   • 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     Of Cassandra-Marat we have spoken often; yet the most surprising truth remains to be spoken: that he actually does not want sense; but, with croaking gelid throat, croaks out masses of the truth, on several things.

   • 1898, Florence Earle Coates, Siberia

     Above the gelid source of mountain springs,
     ?A solitary eagle, circling, flies.

   • 2005, Robert Jordan, Knife of Dreams:

     In the worst of summer the tower remained cool, yet the air seemed feverish and gelid when sisters of different Ajahs came too close.

Derived terms

• gelidity / gelidness
• gelidly

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• glide, lidge, liged

Dutch

Etymology

From ge- +? lid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???l?t/
• Hyphenation: ge?lid
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

gelid n (plural gelederen)

1. row of a formation, battle line
2. an organizational rank, especially a military rank

Descendants

• Afrikaans: gelid

Noun

gelid n (plural geleden)

1. a joint, a point of articulation

Anagrams

• gilde, ledig

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *g?eleti (“to graze”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *g?lew-, extension from *g?el- (“throat”), which could be imitative. See also Old English ceole, German Kehle, Proto-Slavic *gl?tati (“to devour”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??e.l??ð/

Verb

gelid (conjunct ·geil, verbal noun gelt)

1. to graze, consume
   • c. 700, De Origine Scoticae Linguae from the Yellow Book of Lecan, O'Mulc. 830

   • c. 800, Immacaldam Choluim Cille ? ind óclaig, published in "The Lough Foyle Colloquy Texts: Immacaldam Choluim Chille 7 ind Óclaig oc Carraic Eolairg and Immacaldam in Druad Brain 7 Inna Ban?átho Febuil Ós Loch ?ebuil", Ériu 52 (2002), pp. 53-87, edited and with translations by John Carey,

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 80^a11

   • c. 845, St. Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 143^b1

Inflection

Derived terms

• con·geil
• fo·geil

References

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “gelid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language