blunt

Etymology 1

From Middle English blunt, blont, from Old English *blunt (attested in the derivative Blunta (male personal name) (> English surnames Blunt, Blount)), probably of North Germanic origin, possibly related to Old Norse blunda (“to doze”) (> Icelandic blunda, Swedish blunda, Danish blunde).

adj

1. Having a thick edge or point; not sharp.
   The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green. 1944, Miles Burton, The Three Corpse Trick, chapter 5
   The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […]. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess
2. Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute.
3. Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.
   The blunt admission that he had never liked my company.
4. Hard to impress or penetrate.
   December 30, 1736, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions.
5. Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.

noun

1. A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.
2. A short needle with a strong point.
3. (smoking, slang, US) A marijuana cigar.
4. (UK, slang, archaic, uncountable) money
5. A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.

Etymology 2

From Middle English blunten, blonten, from the adjective (see above).

verb

1. To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
2. (figurative) To repress or weaken; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of
   It blunted my appetite.
   My feeling towards her have been blunted.
   That settled the Merseysiders for a short while but it did not blunt the home side's spirit. January 12, 2011, Saj Chowdhury, “Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC
   I'm not saying that thousands of folk are not being inconvenienced, because they most certainly are, but the impact of strikes on government has been blunted. August 24 2022, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Rail strikes deadlock”, in RAIL, number 964, page 3