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Blunt

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blunt¹

  • /blʌnt/ UK, US
  • /blʊnt/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌnt

Where it comes from

From Middle English blunt, blont, from Old English *blunt, probably of North Germanic origin, possibly related to Old Norse blunda (“to shut eyes, to doze”), related to blind (> Icelandic blunda, Swedish blunda, Danish blunde).

Compare the Scandinavian-German munitons term blind (“non-live, dummy”), opposite of skarp (“live”, literally, “sharp”): Swedish and Danish blind patron (“dummy round”), Danish blindt skud, German blinder schuss (“dummy shot”), blinde granate (“dummy grenade”).

adjective blunter · bluntest

  1. Having a thick edge or point; not sharp. The murderous knife was dull and blunt.
  2. Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute. His wits are not so blunt.
  3. Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting in the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech. I was taken aback by the blunt admission that he had never liked my company.
  4. Hard to impress or penetrate. December 30, 1736, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions.
  5. Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.

noun blunts

  1. countable, uncountable A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.
  2. countable, uncountable A short needle with a strong point.
  3. US, countable, slang, uncountable A marijuana cigar. […] to make his point, lead rapper B-Real fired up a blunt in front of the cameras and several hundred thousand people and announced, “I'm taking a hit for every one of y'all!”
  4. UK, archaic, slang, uncountable Money. Down he goes to the Commons, to see the lawyer and draw the blunt[…]
  5. countable, uncountable A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.

blunt²

  • /blʌnt/ UK, US
  • /blʊnt/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌnt

Where it comes from

From Middle English blunten, blonten, from the adjective (see above).

verb blunts · blunting · blunted

  1. To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
  2. figuratively To repress or weaken; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of It blunted my appetite.

Similar: blunten

Blunt³

Where it comes from

Two possible origins:

* From Anglo-Norman blunt (“blond”), a nickname for someone with fair hair or a light complexion.

* From Middle English blunt (“dull, stupid”), a nickname for a stupid person.

proper noun Blunts

  1. countable, uncountable A surname transferred from the nickname.
  2. countable, uncountable A minor city in Hughes County, South Dakota, United States.

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