| verb | make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible “muffle the message” |
| verb | cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients “girdle the plant” |
| verb | make vapid or deprive of spirit “deadened wine” |
| verb | lessen the momentum or velocity of “deaden a ship's headway” |
| verb | become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor |
| verb | make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation “Terror blunted her feelings” |
| verb | convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil |
| damper | noun | a device that decreases the amplitude of electronic, mechanical, acoustical, or aerodynamic oscillations |
| girdle | noun | an encircling or ringlike structure |
| deadening | noun | the act of making something futile and useless (as by routine) |