dumbfoundv.
/dʌmˈfaʊnd/ transitive. To strike dumb; to confound, confuse; to nonplus.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > surprise, astonish [verb (transitive)]
gloppena1250
abavea1400
ferlya1400
forferlya1400
supprisec1405
stonish1488
surprend1549
stagger1556
thunderbolta1586
admire1598
startle1598
thunderstrike1613
siderate1623
dumbfound1653
surprise1655
stammer1656
strange1657
astartlea1680
dumbfounder1710
knock1715
to take aback1751
flabbergast1773
to take back1796
stagnate1829
to put aback1833
to make (a person) sit up1878
to knock, lay (out), etc., cold1884
transmogrify1887
rock1947
to flip out1964
1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais in Wks. (1694) i. vi. 22 I beseech you never Dum-found or Embarrass your Heads with these idle Conceits.
1681 T. Otway Souldiers Fortune ii. i. 14 He has but one eye, and we are on his blind side; I'll dumb-found him. (Strikes him on the shoulder.)
1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VI. ii. 5 To cramp and dumbfound his opponents.
1861 C. Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 361 I cannot wriggle out of it; I am dumbfounded.
Derivatives
dumbˈfounded adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > [adjective]
forglopnedc1175
dumb1388
astoniedc1400
unprepared1563
thunderstrickena1586
stonished1595
startled?1611
thunderstruck1613
dump1616
admired1684
dumbfounded1815
capped1862
surprised1882
dumbfoundered1883
staggered1911
1815 T. Moore Mem. (1853) II. 70 The dum-founded fascination that seizes people.
dumbˈfounding n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > [noun] > act of surprising
surprise1609
stealth1611
surprisal1613
startling1645
dumbfounding1682
springing1866
1682 in A. Behn False Count Epil. sig. Kv Among all the Follys here abounding, None took like the new Ape-trick of Dumfounding.
1690 J. Dryden in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Prophetess sig. A4v That witty Recreation, call'd Dumb-founding.
1770 C. Jenner Placid Man II. 139 That kind of dumb~founding astonishment.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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