Dictionary

dumbling en · NOUN

Etymology

From dumb + -ling.

Meanings

1. One who is unintelligent, dumb, or stupid; a dummy; idiot.
   • Karl Jung referred to the “dumbling” in us And finally, at last the old fool showed up (A long time in coming) Always there, of course, where you couldn't find him (Where he hid all his life) Waiting patiently for the final act to [...] 2009, S. R. Palumbo, Time of Our Time:
   • The self-described "dumbling" plowed through Les Miserables, perhaps identifying with the persecuted Jean Valjean, but each time he closed the book, there were the mug, the bucket, the chamber pot, the bars. 2007, Bruce Watson, Sacco and Vanzetti:
   • Gaignebet does not find savage irony in the punchlines about poor protagonists who are such dumblings they do not know that penises do not grow back. 1999, Marina Warner, Monsters of Our Own Making:

Forms