What is "dumb cane"

Dumb \Dumb\, a. [AS. dumb; akin to D. dom stupid, dumb, Sw. dumb, Goth. dumbs; cf. Gr. ? blind. See Deaf, and cf. Dummy.]

1. Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes.

   To unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures.
   --Hooker.

2. Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not accompanied by words; as, dumb show.

   This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
   --Shak.

   To pierce into the dumb past. -- J. C. Shairp.

3. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color. [R.] Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color. --De Foe. Deaf and dumb. See Deaf-mute. Dumb ague, or Dumb chill, a form of intermittent fever which has no well-defined ``chill.'' [U.S.] Dumb animal, any animal except man; -- usually restricted to a domestic quadruped; -- so called in contradistinction to man, who is a ``speaking animal.'' Dumb cake, a cake made in silence by girls on St. Mark's eve, with certain mystic ceremonies, to discover their future husbands. --Halliwell. Dumb cane (Bot.), a west Indian plant of the Arum family ( Dieffenbachia seguina), which, when chewed, causes the tongue to swell, and destroys temporarily the power of speech. Dumb crambo. See under crambo. Dumb show.

   1. Formerly, a part of a dramatic representation, shown in pantomime. ``Inexplicable dumb shows and noise.''
      --Shak.

   2. Signs and gestures without words; as, to tell a story in dumb show.

      To strike dumb, to confound; to astonish; to render silent by astonishment; or, it may be, to deprive of the power of speech.

      Syn: Silent; speechless; noiseless. See Mute.

n. A West Indian plant, (taxlink Dieffenbachia seguine species noshow=1), which, when chewed, causes the tongue to swell and temporarily prevents speech.

n. a evergreen plant with large showy dark green leaves; contains a poison that swells the tongue and throat hence the name [syn: mother-in-law plant, mother-in-law's tongue, Dieffenbachia sequine]