Definition of "dumbness"

dumbness

noun
usually uncountable, plural dumbnesses
1. (dated) The state of being mute: that is, of not communicating vocally, whether from selective mutism (refusal to speak) or from an inability to speak.
  Quotations
  He was a deaf-mute. His dumbness did not seem to matter when we were boys.
  1944, Emily Carr, “Sissy's Job”, in The House of All Sorts
2. (dated) Muteness, silence; abstention from speech.
  Quotations
  There was speech in their dumbness.
  c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene ii]
3. (dated) Show or gesture without words; pantomime; dumb-show.
  Quotations
  To the dumbness of the gesture one might interpret.
  c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
4. (informal) The quality of being stupid or foolish.