1590s, "to make deaf," from deaf + -en (1). The earlier verb was simply deaf (mid-15c.). For "to become deaf, to grow deaf," Old English had adeafian (intransitive), which survived into Middle English as deave but then took on a transitive sense from mid-14c. and sank from use except in dialects (where it mostly has transitive and figurative senses), leaving English without an intransitive verb here.
双语例句
1. This noise will deafen us all!
这种喧闹声将使我们什么也听不见!
来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
2. DEAFEN A sudden explosion deafened us for a moment.
