DEAD (3)

dead (3)|deaden. Dead, or Deaden, v.t. to weaken, to make tasteless

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Dead (dĕd), n. 1. 1. The most quiet or deathlike time; the period of profoundest repose, inertness, or gloom; as, the dead of winter.
When the drum beat at dead of night. Campbell. 2. 2. One who is dead; — commonly used collectively.
And Abraham stood up from before his dead. Gen. xxiii. 3.