deaf adj Usu |dɛf|; less commonly |dif| (the std pronc in EModE); also chiefly Mid Atl |dɪ(ə)f|; occas |deɪf, dɛɪf|; infreq |dæf, dɛθ| Pronc-spp deef(e); eye-dial def(f)
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B Senses.
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2 also deafy; Of a nut: having a missing or shriveled kernel; also fig. [OED3 deaf adj. 6 “Lacking its essential character or quality; hollow, empty; (esp. with reference to crops or agriculture) barren, unproductive. . . Now chiefly English regional” eOE→, deaf nut n. 1600→; perh reinforced by PaGer dâb (Ger taub) deaf, lacking a kernel. ] chiefly PA
1859 Elwyn Glossary 38, Deaf-nut. A North Country word for a nut whose kernel is decayed. It is common with us. 1875 Valley Spirit (Chambersburg PA) 15 Dec [2]/5, The object of this communication, however, is . . to show what an immense quantity of “deaf nuts” people who read their productions have sometimes to crack before they come to one that has a kernel. 1904 York Dispatch (PA) 31 Mar 1/2, Some stores are like a deaf nut. They are handsome outside, but, inside, are dead, and have not anything which anyone desires. 1912 Pittsburgh Post (PA) 12 June 9/3, “Yesterday a squirrel in Allegheny park bit a man from Ohio . . ,” said the Green Goods Man, as he made a noise like a deaf hickory nut. 1943 in 1944 ADD sPA, Deafy . . containing a dried-up kernel or no kernel;—said of a (hickory) nut. . . [ˈdifɪ]. 1951 Daily Amer. Republic (Poplar Bluff MO) 4 Oct sec B 2/3 Ozarks, Some walnut trees have one peculiarity. Old-timers say their nuts are deaf, pronounced “deef.” . . Outside they look fine; inside there is nothing. 1981 in 1982 Barrick Coll. csPA, Deaf . . [dif]; . . empty, hollow. “I thought maybe the acorns would be deef; all the strength went to grow new leaves.”