amaze

English

Etymology

From Middle English amasen (“to bewilder, perplex”), from Old English āmasian (“to confuse, astonish”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian (“to confound”) from *mæs (“delusion, bewilderment”), from Proto-Germanic *mas-, *masōną (“to confound, be weary, dream”), from Proto-Indo-European *mā- (“to stupefy”). Akin to Old Norse masa (“to struggle, be confused”), Ancient Greek μάτη (mátē, “folly”), μέμαα (mémaa, “I was eager”). More at automatic.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /əˈmeɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪz

Verb

amaze (third-person singular simple present amazes, present participle amazing, simple past and past participle amazed)

1. (obsolete) To stupefy; to knock unconscious. [13th-17th c.]
2. (obsolete) To terrify, to fill with panic. [16th-18th c.]
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review Books 2001, p. 261:

     [Fear] amazeth many men that are to speak or show themselves in public assemblies, or before some great personages [...].

3. To fill with wonder and surprise; to astonish, astound, surprise or perplex. [from 16th c.]

   He was amazed when he found that the girl was a robot.

Related terms

• amazing
• amazement

Translations

to fill with surprise, astonish

• Arabic: عجب (ar) (3ájjaba)
• Bulgarian: смайвам (bg) (smajvam), слисвам (bg) (slisvam), удивлявам (bg) (udivljavam), изумявам (bg) (izumjavam)
• Czech: ohromit (cs), (rare literary) zhromit (cs)
• Finnish: hämmästyttää (fi)
• French: stupéfier (fr)
• German: verwundern (de)
• Hebrew: הדהים (he) (hidhím)

• Japanese: 驚かす (ja) (odorokasu)
• Polish: zdumiewać, zaskakiwać
• Portuguese: assombrar (pt), (1) espantar (pt), (2) surpreender (pt)
• Romanian: uimi (ro), minuna (ro)
• Russian: изумлять (ru) (izumlját’) impf., изумить (ru) (izumít’) pf.
• Spanish: pasmar (es), sorprender (es), asombrar (es)
• Turkish: şaşırtmak (tr)

Noun

amaze (uncountable)

1. (now poetic) Amazement, astonishment. [from 16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:

     All in amaze he suddenly vp start / With sword in hand, and with the old man went [...].

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 103:

     Shattuck looked at him in amaze.

   • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 1361:

     She took the proffered cheque and stared at it with puzzled amaze, dazed by her own behaviour.