† astoned, astunned, ppl. a. Obs.
(əˈstʌnd)
Forms: 3–7 astoned, 4 astuned, astouned, 5 astonyd, astownyd, 5–6 astooned, astoyned, 4–6 astonned, 6–7 astond, 7 astund, 7–8 astunned.
[Pa. pple. of prec. vb., pronounced in ME. (aˈstunəd, aˈstund); but sometimes, like other ME. words in -und, lengthened to (aˈstuːnd), and spelt astound, astownd; see astound ppl. a. Astoyned in 15–16th c. is an unexplained variant, perhaps mixing astoned and astonyed.]
1. Stunned, benumbed, stupefied, insensible.
| c 1300 St. Margar. 290 Þe folc..ful adoun for drede & leye þer as hi were astoned & as hi were dede. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6297 Hors and man astuned lay. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 76 So astoned that the eyen in hys heed were al troubled of the payne. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 383 The same..dissolueth the blood that is astonde or fixed. 1624 Quarles Job Mil. (1717) 187 Astun'd with sorrows. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 253 Prostrate he lies Astunn'd and impotent. |
2. Stupid.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. iii. 122 Yif he be slowe and astoned..he lyueth as an asse. |
3. Stricken with consternation or amazement, so as to lose presence of mind; amazed, overwhelmed, confounded; astonished.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 396 Her hors were al astoned, & nolde after wylle Sywe noþer spore ne brydel. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 281 No wonder is thogh that she were astoned [astoned—5 v.r. astonyd, -yed]..Sche neuere was to swiche gestis woned. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxiii. 9488 All astonyt þai stode starond aboute. c 1500 Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) II. 26 Virgilius was a stoned and merueyled greatly thereof. 1543 Grafton Cont. Harding 494 At whiche questyon all the lordes sat sore astonned, musynge muche. c 1550 Cheke Matt. xiii. 54 In so much y{supt} yei weer astooned. 1576 Gascoigne Compl. Philom. (Arb.) 89, I stood astoynde. a 1677 Barrow Serm. (1686) III. xxxii. 352 He will be astond, and will say, In truth great is the God of Christians. |