Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DEAF'NESS, n. [dee'fness.]

1. Incapacity of perceiving sounds; the state of the organs which prevents the impressions which constitute hearing; as, the deafness of the ears; hence, applied to persons, want of the sense of hearing.
2. Unwillingness to hear and regard; voluntary rejection of what is addressed to the ear and to the understanding. King Charles.