Etymology

Adjective

1. Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
   • Shakespeare:

     How silent is this town!

   • 1825, Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, The Works of Samuel Johnson, Talboys and Wheeler, page 52:

     What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.

   • 1906, William Dean Howells and Sidney Dillon Ripley, Certain Delightful English Towns: With Glimpses of the Pleasant Country Between, Harper & Brothers, page 152:

     The voice of the auctioneer is slow and low [...]; after a pause, which seems no silenter than the rest of the transaction, he ceases to repeat the bids, and his fish, in the measure of a bushel or so, have gone for a matter of three shillings.

2. Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.

   • Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men. Broome.
   • This new-created world, whereof in hell Fame is not silent. John Milton.

3. Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed; as, the wind is silent. Parnell. Sir W. Raleigh.
4. (pronunciation) Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent; as, "e is silent in fable."
5. Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.
   • Cause ... silent, virtueless, and dead. Sir Walter Raleigh.
6. Without audio capability.

   The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.

Noun

1. That which is silent; a time of silence.

   • The silent of the night. Shakespeare

2. A silent movie