stun
pronunciation
How to pronounce stun in British English:
UK [stʌn]
How to pronounce stun in American English:
US [stʌn]
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- Verb:
- make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow
- surprise greatly; knock someone's socks off
- hit something or somebody as if with a sandbag
- overcome as with astonishment or disbelief
Word Origin
- stun
- stun: [13] Stun is virtually the same word as astonish and astound, and like them it denotes etymologically ‘leave thunderstruck’. It comes via Anglo-Norman estuner from Vulgar Latin *extonāre ‘stupefy’. This was a compound verb, formed from the Latin intensive prefix ex- and tonāre ‘thunder’ (a relative of English thunder) and based on the model of Latin attonāre ‘stupefy’, similarly formed from tonāre but with the prefix ad-. The variant *astoner produced English astonish and astound.=> astonish, astound, thunder
- stun (v.)
- early 14c., "to daze or render unconscious" (from a blow, powerful emotion, etc.), probably a shortening of Old French estoner "to stun" (see astonish). Related: Stunned; stunning.
Example
- 1. This is a stun grenade .
- 2. Unless I stun you first .
- 3. You 're lucky I had that set to stun .
- 4. In 1530 it meant to paralyze , deaden , stupefy , to stun or deprive of sensation , as by a blow .
- 5. They use their tails to stun fish or to round them up ready for attack .