deafen

From deaf +‎ -en (verbal suffix), compare Middle English deven, deaven (“to make deaf”), Old English ādēafian (“to deafen”), Dutch verdoven (“to stupefy, deafen”), German betäuben (“to stun, stupefy, deafen”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛfən

deafen (third-person singular simple present deafens, present participle deafening, simple past and past participle deafened)

1. (transitive) To make deaf, either temporarily or permanently.

   The head injury deafened her for life.

2. (transitive) To make soundproof.

   to deafen a wall or a floor

3. (transitive, rare, dialectal, sometimes figurative) To stun, as with noise.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Racine left the ground […] deafened, dazzled and tired to death.