Shock numbs the brain and stays suffering, but presently, like a frightened child rousing from sleep, Ann Walden turned to Cynthia.
"A Son of the Hills"
Harriet T. Comstock
For Fortune, when she lifts up or casts down, usually numbs the understanding at the first turn of her wheel, sending her victim staggering on his way a mere machine, astonishingly alive to the necessity of the immediate moment, careful of the next step, but capable of looking neither forward nor backward with an understanding eye.
"The Last Hope"
Henry Seton Merriman
Burning sigh, or breath that freezes, numbs or maddens man or maid; Death or Love the victim seizes, Breathing from their ambuscade."
"The Room in the Dragon Volant"
J. Sheridan LeFanu