Noah Webster
Dumb
DUMB, adjective Dum.
1. Mute; silent; not speaking.
I was dumb with silence; I held my peace. Psalms 34:1.
2. Destitute of the power of speech; unable to utter articulate sounds; as the dumb brutes. The asylum at Hartford in Connecticut was the first institution in America for teaching the deaf and dumb to read and write.
3. Mute; not using or accompanied with speech; as a dumb show; dumb signs.
To strike dumb is to confound; to astonish; to render silent by astonishment; or it may be, to deprive of the power of speech.
DUMB, verb transitive To silence.