Dictionary

astony en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /əˈstɒni/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English astoneyen, astony, a back-formation from astoneyed, from a- + Old French estoné (“stunned”), the past participle of estoner (“to stun”) + -ed (participial suffix). See also astone, astonish.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To astound; to paralyse, to stun.
   • thenne Brastias sawe his felawe ferd so with al / he smote the duke with a spere that hors & man fell doune / that sawe kyng Claryaunce and retorned vnto Brastias / and eyther smote other soo that hors & man wente to the erthe / and so they lay long astonyed / & their hors knees brast to the hard bone [1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xiiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:
   • And it cam to passe, that when Jesus had ended these saynges, the peple were astonnied at his doctryne. 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:
   • Verily the violence of a griefe, being extreme, must needs astonie the mind, and hinder the liberty of her actions. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
   • When some Beloveds, 'neath whose eye / The sweet lids lay lights of my childhood, one by one / Did leave me dark before the natural sun, / And I astonied fell and could not pray […] 1838, Elizabeth B[arrett] Barrett [i.e., Elizabeth Barrett Browning], “Bereavement”, in The Seraphim, and Other Poems, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC:
   • Upright men shall be astonied at this […] 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 17::
   • On th' other ſide, Adam, ſoon as he heard / The fatal Treſpaſs don by Eve, amaz'd, / Aſtonied ſtood and Blank, vvhile horror chill / Ran through his veins, and all his joynts relax'd; […] 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [Hh3], verso, lines 888–893:

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