Deave

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To overwhelm or confuse someone’s hearing; to cause temporary deafness or to stun with a loud noise; to drown out or overpower sound with excessive noise
2. To impair or block the ability to hear accurately; to bombard with loud, jarring sounds that disorient or stun; to overwhelm auditory senses with intense racket
3. To produce such a loud or intense noise that it disrupts hearing; to cause temporary or partial deafness by strong sound; to clamor or shout so as to overpower other sounds or voices

Etymology: Ancient Germanic speakers made this verb directly from the adjective "deaf." Old English had "dēaf" (deaf) and "dēafian," meaning to deafen or make deaf, and "deave" descends from that second form. The sense of loud noise came later, as a natural extension: a sound loud enough to deafen someone is loud enough to drown out everything else. The verb was common in Middle English but dropped out of standard English after the early modern period. It survived in Scots and northern English dialects, where "deave" still means to deafen with noise or to wear someone down with chatter. Its near-twin, "deafen," was formed in English from the same adjective, so the two words share a root but reached modern English by different routes.

Synonyms: deafen, muffle, sicken, stun, overwhelm

Antonyms: hear, listen, attend, perceive, sense