Dictionary

shell shock en · NOUN

Etymology

Well attested during World War I. Attempts to find attestations that predate that war seem fruitless. The ambiguity of reference to a range of phenomena, from physical concussion due to the explosively loud noise of artillery fire (on both the sending and receiving ends) to psychological reactions to violence and maiming, was present in the term's use from the start. In 21st-century wars there is continued evidence that long, close exposure to the noise of artillery can cause traumatic brain injury even in soldiers who did not take incoming artillery fire. But most discussions of shell shock in World War I concerned combat stress as well.

Meanings

1. (historical, uncountable) A psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle, corresponding largely with the current diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
   • There's a condition in combat—most people know it by now. It occurs when a soldier's nervous system has reached the breaking point. In World War I, it was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables. Shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. Shell shock!! 2004, George Carlin, “EUPHEMISMS: Shell Shock to PTSD”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 40:
2. (colloquial, countable, uncountable) A person with the condition.
   • Of the 79 officer casualties 10 were "shell-shocks", or about 12 per cent, of the whole. Of the 10 shell-shocks 4 were sent to C.C.S. and 6 to Corps Rest Station. 1943, Arthur Graham Butler, The Australian Army Medical Services in the War of 1914-1918, volume 3, page 107:
   • I passed through the shell-shock wards and a yard where the "shell-shocks" sat about, dumb, or making queer, foolish noises, or staring with a look of animal fear in their eyes. 1920, Phillip Gibbs, Now It Can Be Told, published 2009, page 350:
   • Most nurses found the helplessness of "the shell shocks" painful and "pitiful." 2004, Susan Zeiger, In Uncle Sam's Service: Women Workers with the American Expeditionary Force, 1917—1919, page 131:
3. (broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable) A stunning shock.
   • "[…]Think of me / With all these psychic shell shocks — first the war, / Its great emotions, then this Elenor." 2004, Edgar Lee Masters, Barrett Bays: Domesday Book, page 322:
   • But while malls killed much of downtown America, they only partially injured New York City. The density of this city guaranteed a less dramatic impact than the shell shocks that crippled so many other cities. 2010, Roberta Brandes Gratz, The Battle for Gotham, page 21:
4. (countable, uncountable) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shell, shock.
   • The other was to go on, to the next drink or the bed or the grass outside, where the party-noises ebbed and flowed like shell-shocks and the Southern Cross burnt crookedly above. 1967, Bernard Share, Inish, page 99:

Forms

Relateds

shell shocked

Synonyms

combat fatigue · battle fatigue

Translations (15)

es neurosis de guerra (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · cmn 砲彈休克 /炮弹休克 (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · ru конту́зия (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · de Kriegszitterer (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · ar إِرْتِجَاج دِمَاغِيّ (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · lt kontuzija (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · sv stridsutmattning (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · es neurosis guerrera (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · fr obusite (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · es neurosis bélica (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · fi sotapsykoosi (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · sh ратна неуроза (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · pt fadiga de combate (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · lv kontūzija (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle) · ja 戦闘ストレス反応 (psychiatric condition characterized by fatigue caused by battle)

shell shock en · VERB

Etymology

Well attested during World War I. Attempts to find attestations that predate that war seem fruitless. The ambiguity of reference to a range of phenomena, from physical concussion due to the explosively loud noise of artillery fire (on both the sending and receiving ends) to psychological reactions to violence and maiming, was present in the term's use from the start. In 21st-century wars there is continued evidence that long, close exposure to the noise of artillery can cause traumatic brain injury even in soldiers who did not take incoming artillery fire. But most discussions of shell shock in World War I concerned combat stress as well.

Meanings

1. (figuratively, transitive) To stun or debilitate as by a shock.
   • It was General du Pont's 'forty-five' which bellowed and thundered and echoed through Fifth avenue, scaring horses and shell shocking pedestrians. 1919, Bulletin of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, numbers 148-152, page xx:
   • 1999, Brother Gilbert (Phillip F. Cairnes), Harry Rothgerber (editor), Young Babe Ruth, page 146, The crack of the home run that the batsman cherishes shell-shocks the nerves of the pitcher who threw it.
   • Barry sounded lighter, his spirits lifting slightly from the shell shocking humiliation and helplessness he'd been feeling. 2010, John E. Shephard, Jr, Cottage Lake Soliloquy, page 10:
   • 2008, Linda Mi-Suk Enos, The Korean Palace of Honolulu, Condensed (6 x 9) Version, page 462, Silently Melissa listened to her mother as she softly convincingly spoke the raw naked truth the best way she knew how without shell shocking the girl.

Forms

Relateds

soldier's heart · post-traumatic stress disorder · PTSD