Category:Astonishment

As*ton"ish*ment, n. Etym: [Cf. OF. est, F. étonnement.]

1. The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense. [Obs.] A coldness and astonishment in his loins, as folk say. Holland.

2. Dismay; consternation. [Archaic] Spenser.

3. The overpowering emotion excited when something unaccountable, wonderful, or dreadful is presented to the mind; an intense degree of surprise; amazement. Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton.

4. The object causing such an emotion. Thou shalt become an astonishment. Deut. xxviii. 37.

Syn.

-- Amazement; wonder; surprise.