The verb deaden has 7 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (1) dampen, deaden, damp -- (make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible; "muffle the message")
2. girdle, deaden -- (cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients; "girdle the plant")
3. deaden -- (make vapid or deprive of spirit; "deadened wine")
4. deaden -- (lessen the momentum or velocity of; "deaden a ship's headway")
5. deaden -- (become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor)
6. deaden, blunt -- (make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; "Terror blunted her feelings"; "deaden a sound")
7. deaden -- (convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil)