obtund

Here Claudia formed the habit of drinking much more wine than was good for her: and she did it to blunt her sensibility; to obtund the sharpness of her heartache; to give her sleep.

Self-Raised Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth 1859

While we live upon the level with the rest of mankind, we are reminded of our duty by the admonitions of friends and reproaches of enemies; but men who stand in the highest ranks of society, seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction, and obtund remorse.

The Rambler, sections 171-208 (1751-1752); The Adventurer, sections 34-108 (1753); from The Works of Samuel Johnson, in Sixteen Volumes, Volume IV 1751

The manner in which external force acts upon the body is very little subject to the regulation of the will; no man can at pleasure obtund or invigorate his senses, prolong the agency of any impulse, or continue the presence of any image traced upon the eye, or any sound infused into the ear.

The Rambler, sections 55-112 (1750-1751); from The Works of Samuel Johnson in Sixteen Volumes, Vol. IV 1750

While we live upon the level with the rest of mankind, we are reminded of our duty by the admonitions of friends and reproaches of enemies; but men who stand in the highest ranks of society, seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction, and obtund remorse.

The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 03 The Rambler, Volume II Samuel Johnson 1746

Also, Codeine can obtund you and it also supresses the cough reflex.

Alex Jones' Prison Planet.com 2009

Likewise a writer or speaker generally should not say obtund when the verbs dull and blunt come more readily to mind.

VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol X No 3 1984

(and it is granted they are to be preferred above all other earthly things); but where they fill and possess the heart, where they weaken and obtund the affections unto things spiritual, heavenly, and eternal, unless we are mortified unto them, the heart will never be in a good frame, nor is capable of that degree in the grace of repentance which we seek.

Gospel Grounds and Evidences of the Faith of God���s Elect 1616-1683 1965

Turning to Webster’s the reporter discovered that to “obtund” means to “dull,” “blunt,” or “quell.”

The Last Empress Hannah Pakula 2009