amaze

English

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English *amasen, amase (“to bewilder, perplex”) (attested chiefly in the past participle form, and thus often difficult to distinguish from amased (adjective)), from Old English āmasian (“to confuse, astonish”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + *masian (“to confound, confuse, perplex; to amaze”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon, signal”)). The English word is analysable as a- (intensifying prefix) +‎ maze (“(archaic) to astonish, amaze, bewilder; to daze, stupefy”).

The noun is derived from Late Middle English amase, from the verb: see above.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /əˈmeɪz/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪz

Verb

amaze (third-person singular simple present amazes, present participle amazing, simple past and past participle amazed)

1. (transitive)
   1. To fill (someone) with surprise and wonder; to astonish, to astound, to surprise.

      He was amazed when he found that the girl was a robot.

      • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 12:23, column 1:

        And all the people were amazed, and ſaid, Is this the ſonne of Dauid?

      • 1759, [Oliver Goldsmith], “Of the Present State of Polite Learning in Italy”, in An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe, London: R and J Dodsley, , →OCLC, page 64:

        Spain has long fallen from amazing Europe vvith her vvit, to amuſing them vvith the greatneſs of her catholic credulity.

      • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VI, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 33:

        One of the most remarkable speeches of that day was made by a young man, whose eccentric career was destined to amaze Europe. This was Charles Mordaunt, Viscount Mordaunt, widely renowned, many years later, as Earl of Peterborough.

      • 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter XVI, in The Voyage Out, London: The Hogarth Press, published 1949, →OCLC, page 263:

        Rachel was amazed. For one thing it amazed her to hear [William Makepeace] Thackeray called second-rate; and then she could not widen her point of view to believe that there could be great writers in existence at the present day, […]

   2. (obsolete) To stun or stupefy (someone).
      • 1769, [Oliver] Goldsmith, “From the Beginning of the First Triumvirate to the Death of Pompey”, in The Roman History, from the Foundation of the City of Rome, to the Destruction of the Western Empire. , volume I, London: S. Baker and G. Leigh, ; T Davies, ; and L. Davis, , →OCLC, page 479:

        Inſtead of thinking hovv to remedy this diſorder by rallying ſuch troops as fled, or by oppoſing freſh troops to ſtop the progreſs of the conquerors, being totally amazed by this firſt blovv, he [Pompey] returned to the camp, and in his tent, vvaited the iſſue of an event, vvhich it vvas his duty to direct, not to follovv: […]

   3. (obsolete, also reflexive) To bewilder or perplex (someone or oneself).
      • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: Richard Field, , →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: , 4th edition, London: J M Dent and Co. , 1896, →OCLC, verse 114, page 41, lines 683–684:

        The many musits thought the which he goes / Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, , London: T. Maxey for Rich Marriot, , →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 98:

        [T]heir [flies'] breeding is ſo various and vvonderful, that I might eaſily amaze my ſelf, and tire you in a relation of them.

   4. (obsolete, poetic) To fill (someone) with panic; to panic, to terrify.
      • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Feare”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 5, page 132:

        It [fear] amaſeth many men that are to ſpeake, or ſhevv themſelues in publike aſſemblies, or before ſome great personages, […]

      • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, , London: T. Maxey for Rich Marriot, , →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 109:

        Novv you muſt bee ſure […] to carry the point or top of the Rod dovvnevvard; by vvhich meanes the ſhadovv of your ſelfe, and Rod too vvill be the leaſt offenſive to the Fiſh, for the ſight of any ſhadovv amazes the fiſh, and ſpoiles your ſport, of vvhich you muſt take a great care.

2. (intransitive, archaic) To experience amazement; to be astounded.
   • 1593, [George Peele], The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First, , London: Abell Ieffes, and are to be solde by William Barley, , →OCLC; republished as W[alter] W[ilson] Greg, editor, King Edward the First, 1593, : or the Malone Society by Horace Hart , at the Oxford University Press, 1911, →OCLC, signature A3, recto, lines 62–63:

     Madam amaze not, ſee his Maieſtie / Returnd vvith glory from the holy land.

   • 1871, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Bayard Taylor, Faust: A Tragedy. The Second Part. , 11th edition, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company , →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 5:

     Pealing rays and trumpet-blazes,— / Eye is blinded, ear amazes: […]

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• maze
• mazed (archaic)

Translations

Noun

amaze (countable and uncountable, plural amazes)

1. (archaic)
   1. (except poetic, uncountable) Amazement, astonishment; (countable) an instance of this.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 6, page 20:

        All in amaze he ſuddenly vp ſtart / VVith ſvvord in hand, and vvith the old man vvent; […]

      • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost.  (First Quarto), London: W W for Cutbert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W Griggs, , , →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

        His faces ovvn margent did coate ſuch amazes, / That all eyes ſavv his eyes inchaunted vvith gazes.

      • 1741, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXIV”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. , 3rd edition, volume I, London: C Rivington, ; and J. Osborn, , →OCLC, page 64:

        VVhy, I am all in Amaze: I muſt ſit dovvn.

      • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Spirit of Life”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 287:

        Presently, however, as we stood in amaze, gazing at the marvellous sight, and wondering whence the rosy radiance flowed, a dread and beautiful thing happened.

      • 1891, Charles Egbert Craddock [pseudonym; Mary Noailles Murfree], chapter VIII, in In the “Stranger People’s” Country , New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , →OCLC, page 175:

        Shattuck looked at him in amaze. "Why, of course and welcome. What do you mean?" His tone was surprised and wounded, but pacific.

      • c. 1919, “The Foggy Dew” (track 3), in The Long Black Veil‎, performed by The Chieftains and Sinéad O'Connor, published 1995:

        While the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men but few. Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew.

      • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, “Quinx”, in The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian, Quinx, London: Faber and Faber, published 2004, →ISBN, page 1361:

        She took the proffered cheque and stared at it with puzzled amaze, dazed by her own behaviour.

   2. (uncountable) Fear, terror.

      Synonym: (obsolete) amazement

      • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “The Family still Resolve to Hold Up Their Heads”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: , volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: B. Collins, for F Newbery, , →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, →OCLC, page 103:

        [T]he whole rout was in amaze; his Lordſhip turned all manner of colours, my Lady fell into a ſwoon; […]

      • a. 1974 (date written), J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Quenta Silmarillion: The History of the Silmarils. Chapter XVIII. Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin.”, in Christopher Tolkien, editor, The Silmarillion, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, published 15 September 1977, →ISBN, page 153:

        He passed over Dor-nu-Fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking Oromë himself was come: for a great madness of rage was upon him, so that his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar.

2. (obsolete, uncountable) Stupefaction of the mind; bewilderment; (countable) an instance of this.

   Synonym: (obsolete) amazement

   • 1610, Gervase Markham, “Of the Diseases in the Head”, in Markhams Maister-peece. Contayning All Knowledge Belonging to the Smith, Farrier, or Horse-leech, Touching the Curing of All Diseases in Horses: , 5th edition, London: Nicholas and Iohn Okes, , published 1636, →OCLC, 1st book (Containing All Cures Physicall, ), page 60:

     [T]he panicles or thin skins [of a horse] vvhich cleaving to the bones, doe cover the vvhole braine, are ſubject to head-ach, mygram, dizineſſe, and amazes; […]

Derived terms

• amazeful

Translations

References