amaze

amaze
\ \ [OE] Old English āmasian meant ‘stupefy’ or ‘stun’, with perhaps some reminiscences of an original sense ‘stun by hitting on the head’ still adhering to it. Some apparently related forms in Scandinavian languages, such as Swedish masa ‘be sluggish’ and Norwegian dialect masast ‘become unconscious’, suggest that it may originally have been borrowed from Old Norse. The modern sense ‘astonish’ did not develop until the end of the 16th century; Shakespeare was one of its earliest exponents: ‘Crystal eyes, whose full perfection all the world amazes’, Venus and Adonis 1592.
\ \ By the end of the 13th century both the verb and its related noun had developed a form without the initial a-, and in the late 14th century the word – maze – had begun to be applied to a deliberately confusing structure.
\ \ Cf.⇒ MAZE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Amaze — A*maze , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Amazed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Amazing}.] [Pref. a + maze.] 1. To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] A labyrinth to amaze his foes. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. To confound, as by fear, wonder,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Amaze — A*maze , v. t. Bewilderment, arising from fear, surprise, or wonder; amazement. [Chiefly poetic] [1913 Webster] The wild, bewildered Of one to stone converted by amaze. Byron. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • amaze — amaze·ment; amaze; …   English syllables

  • Amaze — A*maze , v. i. To be astounded. [Archaic] B. Taylor. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • amaze — index impress (affect deeply) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • amaze — (v.) early 13c., amasian stupefy, make crazy, from a , probably used here as an intensive prefix, + masian, related to MAZE (Cf. maze) (q.v.). Sense of overwhelm with wonder is from 1580s. Related: Amazed; AMAZING (Cf. amazing) …   Etymology dictionary

  • amaze — vb astound, flabbergast, astonish, *surprise Analogous words: dumbfound, bewilder, confound, nonplus (see PUZZLE): impress, touch, strike, *affect …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • amaze — [v] surprise affect, alarm, astonish, astound, bewilder, blow away*, blow one’s mind*, bowl over*, daze, dumbfound, electrify, flabbergast*, impress, move, perplex, put one away*, shock, stagger, startle, strike, stun, stupefy, touch*; concept 42 …   New thesaurus

  • amaze — ► VERB ▪ surprise greatly; astonish. DERIVATIVES amazement noun. ORIGIN Old English …   English terms dictionary

  • amaze — [ə māz′] vt. amazed, amazing [ME (only in pp. amased) < OE āmasian: < ā , A 2 + base akin to Norw masast, to fall asleep, Swed mos, sluggish, sleepy] 1. to fill with great surprise or sudden wonder; astonish 2. Obs. to bewilder n. Old Poet …   English World dictionary

  • Amaze Me — Infobox Single | Name = Amaze Me Artist = No Angels from Album = Destiny Released = October 19, 2007 A side = Teardrops B side = Ain t Gonna Look the Other Way Format = CD single, ring tone, digital download Writer = Karen Poole, Steve Mac… …   Wikipedia

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