Dumb cane

dumb cane
    n 1: an evergreen plant with large showy dark green leaves;
         contains a poison that swells the tongue and throat hence
         the name [syn: {dumb cane}, {mother-in-law plant}, {mother-
         in-law's tongue}, {Dieffenbachia sequine}]
    

Dumb \Dumb\, a. [AS. dumb; akin to D. dom stupid, dumb, Sw.
   dumb, Goth. dumbs; cf. Gr. ? blind. See {Deaf}, and cf.
   {Dummy}.]
   1. Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter
      articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes.
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            To unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures.
                                                  --Hooker.
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   2. Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not
      accompanied by words; as, dumb show.
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            This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. --Shak.
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            To pierce into the dumb past.         -- J. C.
                                                  Shairp.
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   3. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. [R.]
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            Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
                                                  --De Foe.
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   {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. --Halliwell.

   {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."
          --Shak.
      (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.

   Syn: Silent; speechless; noiseless. See {Mute}.
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