Definition

to scratch, i.e. (by implication) to engrave, plough; hence (from the use of tools) to fabricate (of any material); figuratively, to devise (in a bad sense); hence (from the idea of secrecy) to be silent, to let alone; hence (by implication) to be deaf (as an accompaniment of dumbness)

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• altogether
• cease
• conceal
• be deaf
• devise
• ear
• graven
• imagine
• leave off speaking
• hold peace
• plow(-er
• man)
• be quiet
• rest
• practise secretly
• keep silence
• be silent
• speak not a word
• be still
• hold tongue
• worker

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.