Adjacent Words

Stun definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STUN, v.t. [The primary sense is to strike or to stop, to blunt, to stupefy.]
1. To make senseless or dizzy with a blow on the head; as, to be stunned by a fall, or by a falling timber.
One hung a pole-ax at his saddle bow, and one a heavy mace to stun the foe.
2. To overpower the sense of hearing; to blunt or stupefy the organs of hearing. To prevent being stunned, cannoneers sometimes fill their ears with wool.
3. To confound or make dizzy by loud and mingled sound.
--An universal hubbub wild of stunning sounds and voices all confusd.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow; "stun fish" [syn: stun, stupefy]
2: hit something or somebody as if with a sandbag [syn: sandbag, stun]
3: overcome as with astonishment or disbelief; "The news stunned her" [syn: stun, bedaze, daze]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (stunned; stunning) Etymology: Middle English stonen, stunen, from Anglo-French estoner — more at astonish Date: 14th century 1. to make senseless, groggy, or dizzy by or as if by a blow ; daze 2. to shock with noise 3. to overcome especially with paralyzing astonishment or disbelief II. noun Date: 1727 the effect of something that stuns ; shock

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (stunned, stunning) 1 knock senseless; stupefy. 2 bewilder or shock. 3 (of a sound) deafen temporarily. Etymology: ME f. OF estoner ASTONISH

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stun Stun, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stunned; p. pr. & vb. n. Stunning.] [OE. stonien, stownien; either fr. AS. stunian to resound (cf. D. stenen to groan, G. st["o]hnen, Icel. stynja, Gr. ?, Skr. stan to thunder, and E. thunder), or from the same source as E. astonish. [root]168.] 1. To make senseless or dizzy by violence; to render senseless by a blow, as on the head. One hung a poleax at his saddlebow, And one a heavy mace to stun the foe. --Dryden. 2. To dull or deaden the sensibility of; to overcome; especially, to overpower one's sense of hearing. And stunned him with the music of the spheres. --Pope. 3. To astonish; to overpower; to bewilder. William was quite stunned at my discourse. --De Foe.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stun Stun, n. The condition of being stunned.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(stuns, stunning, stunned) 1. If you are stunned by something, you are extremely shocked or surprised by it and are therefore unable to speak or do anything. Many cinema-goers were stunned by the film's violent and tragic end. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed • stunned When they told me she had gone missing I was totally stunned... ADJ 2. If something such as a blow on the head stuns you, it makes you unconscious or confused and unsteady. Sam stood his ground and got a blow that stunned him. VERB: V n 3. see also stunning

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Make senseless (by a blow), make dizzy. 2. Stupefy, confound, bewilder, overcome, dizzy, dumfound, astonish, overwhelm, over-power. 3. Deafen, make deaf.

Moby Thesaurus

KO, amaze, anesthetize, appall, astonish, astound, awake the dead, awe, awestrike, bedaze, bedazzle, bemuse, benumb, besot, bewilder, blast, blast the ear, blunt, boggle, boom, bowl down, bowl over, chloroform, coldcock, confound, crash, crescendo, daze, dazzle, deaden, deafen, desensitize, din, discombobulate, dope, drug, dull, dumbfound, dumbfounder, electrify, etherize, fill the air, flabbergast, freeze, frighten, horrify, jar, jolt, kayo, knock out, knock senseless, knock stiff, knock unconscious, lay out, narcotize, nonplus, numb, obtund, overcome, overwhelm, palsy, paralyze, peal, perplex, petrify, put to sleep, rattle the windows, rend the air, rend the ears, resound, ring, rise, rock the sky, scare stiff, scare to death, shake, shake up, shock, split the eardrums, split the ears, stagger, startle, startle the echoes, strike dead, strike dumb, strike terror into, strike with wonder, stupefy, surge, surprise, swell, take aback, terrify, thunder