obtuse

adjective obtuser · more obtuse · obtusest · most obtuse

1. Blunt; not sharp, pointed, or acute in form. For we see a Feather or a Rush drawn along the Lip or Cheek, doth tickle; whereas a thing more obtuse, or a touch more hard, doth not.
2. Blunt, or rounded at the extremity. The Herb Pantagruelion hath a little Root somewhat hard and ruff, roundish, terminating in an obtuse and very blunt Point, and having some of its Veins, Strings or Filaments coloured with some spots of white, […]
3. specifically, of an angle Having a measure between 90° and 180°. If you put foure Spleets in a Hiue, then cut their backes, where they must leane one against another, to square angles, such as be foure in a circle: if but three, cut them to obtuse angles, such as are three in a circle: (you may readily try them, before you put them in, by Moulds made iust to thos
4. Obtuse-angled, having an obtuse angle. Unless A lies in that part of a semi-infinite strip bounded by AB outside a semi-circle of diameter AB, the triangle is obtuse, so that the probability of getting an obtuse triangle is equal to 1.
5. Intellectually dull or dim-witted. It was a merry time with Carrmen, Watermen, & Porters: for in this Eclipſe, many of them did nothing but drinke, domineere, and ſwagger in Alehouſes; but the often going to and fro of the Pot, made them talke of that, which they had nothing to doe withall, and many times their obtuſe apprehenſions w

   Similar: dense, dim, dim-witted, thick, thickheaded

6. Of sound, etc.: deadened, muffled, muted. The ſenſe of the inteſtines, if exquiſite, wants a more gentle remedie; and if dull, a ſtronger: Alſo the ſenſes of the inteſtines are perceived by the courſe of diet; for thoſe that feed upon muſtard, or the like biting and more ſharp meat, without trouble, are of a more obtuſe ſenſe; but thoſe of

   Similar: deadened, muffled

7. Indirect or circuitous. […] The Conchologist's First Book intends to do something different by describing both the shell and the soft parts of each creature together. The claim seems awfully trivial, I admit, and [Edgar Allan] Poe does press his point only by the obtuse route of stressing an expansion of terminology, from

Similar: obtuse-angled, blunt, dull · Opposite: bright, intelligent, on the ball, quick off the mark, quick-witted, sharp, smart, clear, acute, acute-angled, pointed

verb obtuses · obtusing · obtused

1. obsolete, transitive To dull or reduce an emotion or a physical state. Fouler. To tread, ſtampe, or trample on; to bruiſe, or cruſh, by ſtamping; hurt, or obtuſe, by treading on; […]