DUMB-BELL


Meaning of DUMB-BELL in English

noun

1.

a short bar with a weight at each end, used for making the arm and shoulder muscles stronger

2.

( NAmE , informal ) a stupid person

••

WORD ORIGIN

early 18th cent.: originally denoting an apparatus similar to that used to ring a church bell (but without the bell, so noiseless or “dumb”); sense 2 (dating from the 1920s) is an extended use by association with dumb stupid .

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.