"to make blunt, dull the edge or point of," late 14c., from blunt (adj.). Related: Blunted; blunting.

early 15c., "dull, blunted, not sharp," from Latin obtusus "blunted, dull," also used figuratively, past participle of obtundere "to beat against, make dull," from ob "in front of; against" (see ob-) + tundere "to beat," from PIE *(s)tud-e- "to beat, strike, push, thrust," from root *(s)teu- "to push, stick, knock, beat" (source also of Latin tudes "hammer," Sanskrit tudati "he thrusts"). Sense of "stupid, not acutely sensitive or perceptive" is by c. 1500. In geometry, in reference to a plane angle greater than a right angle," 1560s. Related: Obtusely; obtuseness.

kind of soft, white Italian cheese originally made in Naples area, 1911, from Italian mozzarella, diminutive of mozza "slice, slice of cheese," from mozzare "to cut off," from Vulgar Latin *mutius "cut off, blunted," which is related to Latin mutilus "maimed" (see mutilation). There is an isolated 1881 use, as an Italian word in English, in a U.S. consulate report from Italy.