▪ I. daze, v.
(deɪz)
Forms: 4–6 dase, (5 dayse, 6–9 daise), 6– daze.
[ME. dase-n, a. ON. *dasa, found in Icel. in the refl. dasa-sk to become weary and exhausted, e.g. from cold, Sw. dasa intr. to lie idle; cf. Icel. dasi a lazy fellow. Sense 3 was possibly the earliest in Eng. No cognate words appear in the other Teutonic langs.]
I. trans.
1. To prostrate the mental faculties of (a person), as by a blow on the head, a violent shock, weariness, intoxicating drink, etc.; to benumb or confuse the senses; to stun, stupefy.
| c 1325 [see dazed 1]. a 1400–50 Alexander 3997 He was dased of þe dint & half dede him semyd. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7654 The deire of his dynt dasit hym but litle. a 1563 Bale Sel. Wks. (Parker Soc.) 443 These things daseth their wits, and amazeth their minds. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. vii. 7 But shewd by outward signes that dread her sence did daze. 1669 Dryden Tyrannic Love iv. ii, Poor human kind, all dazed in open day, Err after bliss, and blindly miss their way. 1825 Jamieson s.v., He daises himself with drink. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xxiii, Jane Wilton was (to use her own word, so expressive to a Lancashire ear) ‘dazed’. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. i. 26 A man dazed and bewildered by such a calamity. |
2. esp. To confound or bewilder (the vision) with excess of light or brilliance; to dazzle. lit. and fig.
| a 1529 Skelton Ph. Sparowe 1103 She made me sore amased Vpon her when I gased..My eyne were so dased. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. i. (1880) 11 They are but trumprye and deceytes, to daze the foolish eies. 1631 Heywood Fair Maid of West ii. i. Wks. 1874 II. 352 To daze all eyes that shall behold her state. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 11 The sudden light Dazed me half-blind. 1864 Skeat Uhland's Poems 152 Shall earthly splendour that strong eyesight daze? |
3. To benumb with cold; to blight or destroy with cold. north. Eng. and Sc.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6647 For-þi þat þai..Brynned ay here in þe calde of malice, And ay was dased in charité. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 88 The callour air..Dasing the blude in euery creature. 1696 Money masters all Things lxx. 52 They [birds] stay not too long off, lest th' Eggs be daz'd. 1876 Mid-Yorkshire Gloss., Dêaze, to blight, or cause to pine from cold, as when vegetables are frost-nipped, or chickens die in the shell for want of warmth. 1891 Atkinson Moorland 336 He assumed that it [a water rail] was dazed with cold. |
II. intr.
† 4. To be or become stupefied or bewildered; to be benumbed with cold; to remain inactive or torpid. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 383 Þer he [the king of Nineveh] dased in þat duste, with droppande teres. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 28, I dase and I dedir For ferd of that taylle. 14.. Kyng & Hermit 418 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 29 Hopys thou, I wold for a mase Stond in the myre there, and dase Nye hand halve a dey? 1483 Cath. Angl. 90 To Dayse (A. Dase), vbi to be callde. 1529 More Supplic. Soulys Wks. 331/2 Whan his head first began to dase, of that evill drynke. |
† 5. Of the eyes or vision: To be or become dazzled. Obs.
| c 1386 [see daswen]. 1529 More Dyaloge iv. Wks. 252/1 Which law if it were laied in their light..wold make al theyr eyen dase. 1635 Quarles Embl. iii. i. (1718) 125 Whose more than Eagle-eyes Can..gaze On glitt'ring beams of honour, and not daze. |
† b. To gaze stupidly or with bewildered vision (after, upon). Obs.
| 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 641, I saw dyvers..Dasyng after dottrellis. 1535 Coverdale Deut. xxviii. 32 Thine eyes shal dase vpon them all the daye longe. |
6. Of bread or meat: To become dazed (sense 3). Now local.
| 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 54 Observe always to have a brisk clear fire, it will prevent your meat from dazing. |
7. ‘To wither; to become rotten or spoiled, from keeping, dampness, etc.’ (Jamieson). Sc. and north. Eng.
▪ II. daze, n.
(deɪz)
[f. daze v.]
1. A dazed condition: a. of the mental faculties; b. A benumbed, deadened condition; loss of virtue or freshness (north. dial.).
| 1825 Jamieson, To get a daise, to receive such injury as to become rotten or spoiled, applied to clothes, wood, etc. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xix, I'm all in a swounding daze to day. 1870 Dickens E. Drood ii, A little time and a little water brought him out of his daze. |
2. Min. An old name for mica (from its glitter).
| 1671 Phil. Trans. VI. 2103 Daze is a kind of glittering stone..some softer, some harder, of different colours. 1715 Thoresby Leeds 467 A brown daze, full of the small sparks of the Mica. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., The word Daze takes in, with them [miners] every stone that is hard and glittering. 1788 Cronstedt's Min. 106 Glimmer, Daze, or Glist. |