gobsmacked, ppl. a. U.K. slang.
(ˈgɒbsmækt)
[f. gob n.2 + smacked ppl. adj. s.v. *smack v.2 Cf. a smack in the face (fig.) s.v. smack n.2 3 a.]
Flabbergasted, astounded; speechless or incoherent with amazement.
| 1985 Guardian 23 Feb. 19/3 Last Tuesday I shook him [sc. Sir Stanley Matthews] by the hand... On the red shale Spion Kop where, 40 years ago, I used to stand to see Wednesday play, I would have been described as ‘gob-smacked’. 1987 J. Curran K2 (1989) i. vii. 88 The event that really caused raised eyebrows was that the Frenchman, Benoît Chamoux, had climbed the Abruzzi in only twenty-four hours! ‘Gobsmacked’ was the only word to describe our reactions. 1989 Jackie 25 Nov. 43/1 Won't they be gobsmacked when you tell them that you wrote to me? 1990 Independent 15 Sept. 2/7 Some of these people have to turn to the paper to know what day it is. This has left them gobsmacked. |
Hence (as a back-formation) ˈgobsmack v. trans., to amaze or astound.
| 1987 Melody Maker 24 Oct. 18/4 It's this act, or variations thereupon, with which she has been gobsmacking the punters in a recent cluster of Personal Appearances in gay clubs, straight clubs and ‘kids clubs’. 1988 Observer 18 Dec. 11/9 NoW staff described themselves as ‘gob-smacked’ by the shock news (this is the tabloid way of saying ‘very surprised’). 1990 New Scientist 10 Mar. 73/3 Nuclear workers at Sellafield, gobsmacked by the news that their own exposure to radiation may increase the likelihood of leukaemia in their children. |