Definition of "amaze"

(transitive)

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

   Quotations

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

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 12:23, column 1

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

     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[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], page 64

   • 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.

     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, page 33

   • 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, […]

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

2. (obsolete) To stun or stupefy (someone).  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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: […]

     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[homas] Davies, […]; and L. Davis, […], page 479

3. (obsolete, also reflexive) To bewilder or perplex (someone or oneself). [16th–17th]  quotations

   Quotations

   • The many musits thought the which he goes / Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.The spelling has been modernized.

     1593, 1896, verse 114, page 41, lines 683–684

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

     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[ard] Marriot, […]; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969,

4. (obsolete, poetic) To fill (someone) with panic; to panic, to terrify.  quotations

   Quotations

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

     1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Feare”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 5, page 132

   • 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.

     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[ard] Marriot, […]; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969,

(intransitive, archaic) To experience amazement; to be astounded.  quotations

(archaic)

1. (except poetic, uncountable) Amazement, astonishment; (countable) an instance of this.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 6, page 20

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

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

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

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

   • 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.

     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, page 287

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

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

   • 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.

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

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

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

2. (uncountable) Fear, terror.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     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[rancis] Newbery, […]; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, page 103

   • 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.

     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, page 153

(obsolete, uncountable) Stupefaction of the mind; bewilderment; (countable) an instance of this. [15th–19th]  quotations