stupefy
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle French stupéfier, from Latin stupefaciō (“strike dumb, stun with amazement, stupefy”), from stupeō (“I am stunned, speechless”) (English stupid, stupor) + faciō (“do, make”).
Pronunciation
editVerb
editstupefy (third-person singular simple present stupefies, present participle stupefying, simple past and past participle stupefied)
- (transitive) To dull the senses or capacity to think thereby reducing responsiveness; to dazzle or stun.
- 1917, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “A Bad Beginning”, in Look! We Have Come Through!, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 77:
- What if I love you!—This misery / Of your dissatisfaction and misprision / Stupefies me.
- (transitive, obsolete) To deprive a material of the ability to undergo change or movement, especially deformation.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “IX. Century. [Articles of Enquiry.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 226:
- The next is, when it is not malleable, but yet it is not fluent, but stupified[sic].
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editdull the senses or capacity to think
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)tewp-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses