▪ I. dizzy, a.
(ˈdɪzɪ)
Forms: 1 dysiᵹ, dyseᵹ, 2–3 dysiȝ, dusiȝ, dusi(e (y), 2–6 desi(e); 4–6 dys(s)y, (6 dusey), 6–7 dis(s)ie, -y; 6–7 diz(z)ie, 7– dizzy.
[OE. dysiᵹ, dyseᵹ foolish, stupid = OFris. dusig, MDu. dosech, dösech, LG. dusig, dösig, dusig giddy, OHG. tusig, tusic foolish, weak, a common W.Ger. adj. in -ig (-y), from a root dus- found also in LG. dusen to be giddy, OE. dysl{iacu}c, dysel{iacu}c foolish, stupid, and in a different ablaut grade with long vowel in LG. dûsel giddiness, MDu. dûzelen, Du. duizelen to be giddy or stupid. See early ME. derivatives under dusi-.]
1. a. Foolish, stupid. Now only dial. (Not in general use since 13th c.)
| c 825 Vesp. Hymns vii, Swe folc dysiᵹ. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. vii. 26 Gelic bið were dysᵹe se ðe ᵹetimberde hus his ofer sonde [c 1160 Hatton desien men]. 971 Blickl. Hom. 41 Geþenc, þu dyseᵹa mon. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 117 Þer þe dusie mon bið þriste and þer þe dwolunge rixað. a 1225 Ancr. R. 182 Nolde me tellen him alre monne dusiȝest? a 1250 Owl & Night. 1466 Dusi luve ne last noht longe. a 1275 Prov. ælfred 479 in O.E. Misc. 131 Wurþu neuere so wod, ne so desi of þi mod. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Dizzy, half-witted. 1893 Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Z. II. 45 Such dizzy-fools that they put their money there. |
† b. absol. A foolish man, a fool. Obs.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xci. 6 Dysiᵹ ne onᵹiteð ða. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 33 Hwet seið þe dusie. Ibid. 105 Wreððe hafð wununge on þes dusian bosme. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 599 Ha ne stod neauer, ear þene þes dei, bute biforen dusie. |
2. Having a sensation of whirling or vertigo in the head, with proneness to fall; giddy.
| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 771 Than waxes his hert hard and hevy. And his heved feble and dysy. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1052, I daunce up and down tyll I am dyssy. 1568 Turner Herbal i. 20 [Wolfesbayne] maketh [men] dusey [ed. 1551 dosey] in the head. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xvi. (1887) 73 For feare they be disie when they daunce. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xiii. 40 They were so exceeding dizzy in the head that they would fall down. 1852 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 200 With my heart beating and my head quite dizzy. |
| fig. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 122 The reeling clouds Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet Which master to obey. |
3. a. Mentally unsteady or in a whirl; b. Wanting moral stability, giddy.
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. Prol. 101 My desie heid quhome laik of brane gart vary. 1599 Broughton's Lett. ii. 9 Meere buzzings of your owne conceited dizzie braine. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 420 At thy heels the dizzy multitude. 1780 Cowper Table Talk 607 He..dizzy with delight, profaned the sacred wires. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 61 My head is dizzy with thinking of the argument. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxxv, Dance houses and saloons multiplied and ‘dizzy doves’ gave an air of abandon to the streets. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Duzzy, stupid; confused. ‘I'm mighty duzzy this morning.’ 1888 Texas Siftings 29 Sept. (Farmer), Professional beauties or maidens, commonly called dizzy blondes. 1889 Kansas Times & Star 4 Nov., Many of the local clergy last night warned the church members..against a ‘Dizzy Blonde’ company coming to one of the theaters soon. 1938 G. Heyer Blunt Instrument ix. 166 The dizzy blonde herself. 1945 [see dog n.1 17 q]. |
c. Startling, astonishing, vivid. slang.
| 1896 Ade Artie xvii. 158 They was out there in them dizzy togs cuttin' up and down the track. 1897 Daily News 10 Aug. 5/2 Four straw hats with ‘dizzy bands’. 1923 R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean v. 84 When she limped into Brest a week overdue, the admiral called it a dizzy miracle. |
4. Accompanied with or producing giddiness.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 12 How fearefull And dizie 'tis, to cast ones eyes so low. 1643 Milton Divorce Ded., Did not the distemper of their own stomachs affect them with a dizzy megrim. 1812 S. Rogers Columbus i. 24 The very ship-boy on the dizzy mast. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 561 He began..to climb..towards that dizzy pinnacle. |
5. Arising from or caused by giddiness; reeling.
| 1715–20 Pope Iliad v. 381 Lost in a dizzy mist the warriour lies. 1740 Pitt æneid xii. (R.), A dizzy mist of darkness swims around. 1781 Cowper Hope 518 The wretch, who once..sucked in dizzy madness with his draught. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. vii, Thought gave way to a dizzy horror, as if the earth were slipping away from under him. |
6. fig. Whirling with mad rapidity.
| 1791 Cowper Iliad xxi. 10 Push'd down the sides of Xanthus, headlong plung'd, With dashing sound into his dizzy stream. 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excursion viii. 179 The..stream, That turns the multitude of dizzy wheels. |
7. Dull of hearing. dial.
| 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Duzzy, deafish. ‘'E's lother duzzy; e doesna 'ear very well.’ |
8. Comb., as dizzy-eyed, dizzy-headed.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 11 Dizzie-ey'd Furie..Suddenly made him from my side to start. 1611 Cotgr. Estourdi, dulled, amazed..dizzie-headed. 1654 Trapp Comm. Ps. cvii. 33 A company of dizzy-headed men. |
▪ II. dizzy, v.
(ˈdɪzɪ)
[OE. had dysiᵹan, -eᵹian, dysian to be foolish, to act or talk foolishly = OFris. dusia, whence the intr. sense 1; but the trans. sense seems to be a later formation, f. the adjective in its modern form and sense.]
† 1. intr. To act foolishly or stupidly. Obs.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. v. §2 Þonne dyseᵹaþ se þe þonne wile hwilc sæd oþfæstan þam dryᵹum furum. a 1275 Prov. ælfred 466 in O.E. Misc. 131 Ac [gif] he drinkit and desiet þere a morȝe, so þat he fordrunken desiende werchet. |
† b. To talk foolishly, blaspheme (in OE.).
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark ii. 7 Hwi spycð þes þus . he dyseᵹað. Ibid. Luke xxii. 65 Maneᵹa oðre þing hiᵹ him to cwædon dysiᵹende. |
2. trans. To make dizzy or giddy; to cause (any sense) to reel; to produce a swimming sensation in, to turn the head of.
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. Prol. 109 And with that gleme sa desyit was my micht. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 174 Not the dreadfull spout..Shall dizzie with more clamour Neptunes eare In his discent, then [etc.]. 1663 Cowley Cutter of Coleman St. v. xiii, You turn my Head, you dizzy me. 1785 A. Grant Lett. fr. Mountains (1813) II. xix. 99 It dizzies one to look down from the tower. 1820 Southey Lodore, Confounding, astounding, Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound. |
3. To render unsteady in brain or mind; to bewilder or confuse mentally.
| 1604 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 119 (Qo. 2) To deuide him inuentorially would dosie [Qo. 3 dazzie, Qq. 4 & 5 dizzie] th' arithmaticke of memory. 1801 Hel. M. Williams Sk. Fr. Rep. I. i. 7 That wild and chimerical equality, the fumes of which dizzy the head of the demagogue. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxi, Giving her so many..charges, that a head less systematic and business-like than Miss Ophelia's would have been utterly dizzied and confounded. |
| absol. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 378 All this is a vision to dizzy and appal. |
Hence ˈdizzied ppl. a., ˈdizzying vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 20 The dizzying mill-wheel rests. 1823 Chalmers Serm. I. 343 In the din and dizzying of incessant labour. 1853 Felton Fam. Lett. xiv. (1865) 136 The dizzying effect of height. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 242 With dizzied head upon the ground he fell. |