amaze
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈmeɪz/
rhymes: -eɪz
Forms: form: amazes
form: amazing
form: amazed
form: amazed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: amaze
form: amaze
form: amazed
form: amaze
form: amazest
form: amazed
form: amazedst
form: amazes
form: amazeth
form: amazed
form: amaze
form: amazed
form: amaze
form: amazed
form: amaze
form: -
form: amazing
form: amazed
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English *amasen, *amase (“to bewilder, perplex”) (attested chiefly in the past participle form, and thus often difficult to distinguish from amased (adjective)), from Old English āmasian (“to confuse, astonish”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian (“to confound, confuse, perplex; to amaze”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon, signal”)). The English word is analysable as a- (intensifying prefix) + maze (“(archaic) to astonish, amaze, bewilder; to daze, stupefy”).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English amase, from the verb: see above.
Senses: examples: text: He was amazed when he found that the girl was a robot.
text: And all the people were amazed, and ſaid, Is this the ſonne of Dauid?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 12:23, column 1:
text: Spain has long fallen from amazing Europe vvith her vvit, to amuſing them vvith the greatneſs of her catholic credulity.
ref: 1759, [Oliver Goldsmith], “Of the Present State of Polite Learning in Italy”, in An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 64:
text: One of the most remarkable speeches of that day was made by a young man, whose eccentric career was destined to amaze Europe. This was Charles Mordaunt, Viscount Mordaunt, widely renowned, many years later, as Earl of Peterborough.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VI, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 33:
text: Rachel was amazed. For one thing it amazed her to hear [William Makepeace] Thackeray called second-rate; and then she could not widen her point of view to believe that there could be great writers in existence at the present day, […]
ref: 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter XVI, in The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC, page 263:
glosses: To fill (someone) with surprise and wonder; to astonish, to astound, to surprise.
examples: text: Inſtead of thinking hovv to remedy this diſorder by rallying ſuch troops as fled, or by oppoſing freſh troops to ſtop the progreſs of the conquerors, being totally amazed by this firſt blovv, he [Pompey] returned to the camp, and in his tent, vvaited the iſſue of an event, vvhich it vvas his duty to direct, not to follovv: […]
ref: 1769, [Oliver] Goldsmith, “From the Beginning of the First Triumvirate to the Death of Pompey”, in The Roman History, from the Foundation of the City of Rome, to the Destruction of the Western Empire. […], volume I, London: […] S. Baker and G. Leigh, […]; T[homas] Davies, […]; and L. Davis, […], →OCLC, page 479:
glosses: To stun or stupefy (someone).
examples: text: The many musits thought the which he goes / Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.
ref: 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 114], lines [683–684]; republished as Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC, verse 114, page 41, lines 683–684:
text: [T]heir [flies'] breeding is ſo various and vvonderful, that I might eaſily amaze my ſelf, and tire you in a relation of them.
ref: 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 98:
glosses: To bewilder or perplex (someone or oneself).
examples: text: It [fear] amaſeth many men that are to ſpeake, or ſhevv themſelues in publike aſſemblies, or before ſome great personages, […]
ref: 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Feare”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 5, page 132:
text: Novv you muſt bee ſure […] to carry the point or top of the Rod dovvnevvard; by vvhich meanes the ſhadovv of your ſelfe, and Rod too vvill be the leaſt offenſive to the Fiſh, for the ſight of any ſhadovv amazes the fiſh, and ſpoiles your ſport, of vvhich you muſt take a great care.
ref: 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 109:
glosses: To fill (someone) with panic; to panic, to terrify.
examples: text: Madam amaze not, ſee his Maieſtie / Returnd vvith glory from the holy land.
ref: 1593, [George Peele], The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First, […], London: […] Abell Ieffes, and are to be solde by William Barley, […], →OCLC; republished as W[alter] W[ilson] Greg, editor, King Edward the First, 1593, [London]: […] [F]or the Malone Society by Horace Hart […], at the Oxford University Press, 1911, →OCLC, signature A3, recto, lines 62–63:
text: Pealing rays and trumpet-blazes,— / Eye is blinded, ear amazes: […]
ref: 1871, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Bayard Taylor, Faust: A Tragedy. […] The Second Part. […], 11th edition, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 5:
glosses: To experience amazement; to be astounded.
Synonyms: word: amaze
word: astonish
word: astound
word: suprise
word: wow
Derived terms: word: amazeballs
word: amazed
word: amazedly
word: amazedness
word: amazement
word: amazing
word: amazingly
word: amazingness
word: unamazed
word: unamazedly
Related terms: word: maze
word: mazed
word: confuse