I. ˈstən transitive verb
( stunned ; stunned ; stunning ; stuns )
Etymology: Middle English stonen, stunen, modification of Old French estoner — more at astony
1.
a. : to cause to lose consciousness (as by a blow or concussion)
gone about like a man half stunned — Rose Macaulay
could stun a rabbit or a squirrel with a stone — Helen Eustis
b. : to bewilder or daze with noise, clamor, or din : benumb
a deafening crash stunning the ear drums — Fred Majdalany
stunned into speechlessness by the abruptness and violence of the assault — W.A.Swanberg
had been stunned by the terrific … bombardment — P.W.Thompson
2.
a. : to shock or paralyze with strong emotional impression : stupefy
still too stunned and dazed by the suddenness with which events had happened — Samuel Butler †1902
stunned and reeling under her invective — D.G.Gerahty
almost stunned by the surprise — A.W.Long
b.
(1) : to overcome with astonishment or disbelief : confound , perplex
preparing a statement to stun the company when we got the floor — Stuart Chase
stunned me the other day by telling me she had attended a bullfight — G.S.Weight
(2) : to overcome with pleasure or beauty
the natural beauty of the desert stuns the visitor
3.
a. : to bruise (as building stone) so as to cause spalls in the surface
b. : to scratch roughly (as by coarse sand under the saw in the kerf)
Synonyms: see daze
II. noun
( -s )
1. : the effect of something that stuns : shock
the stun of the blow … did not even dent his massive skull — James Jones
bucklings and crashes and then the inside stun of an explosion — Saul Bellow
2. : one of the various strokes of the cue in snooker