stun

Formsstuns, stunning, stunned

Pluralstuns

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To shock or surprise someone so greatly that they are briefly unable to react.

   The verdict stunned the courtroom into silence.

   Her decision to resign will stun her colleagues.

   Similarshock, stagger, astound, astonish, stupefy

   Note

   The shock is usually reported from the receiving end, in the passive or as a bare participle: she was stunned to find, he stood there stunned. A following to-infinitive names what caused it. Unlike shock, it carries wonder as easily as dismay. A breathtaking sunrise can stun someone just as an unfounded allegation can.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To incapacitate a person or animal, especially by causing disorientation or unconsciousness.

   The fall stunned the bird, but it soon recovered and flew off.

   Police officers carry devices designed to stun rather than injure a suspect.

   Similardaze

   Oppositerevive, rouse

   Note

   Thunder lies behind it. Middle English stonen came through Anglo-Norman estoner, probably from a Frankish word meaning "to thunder, crash", so the old picture is someone struck senseless as if by a thunderclap. The same Anglo-Norman verb also meant "astonish", which is why the "surprise" meaning sits so close. In slaughterhouse use the word has a technical meaning: cattle are stunned before slaughter, which means they are made insensible rather than killed.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Something that stuns, such as a sudden shock or a stupefying blow.

   He staggered from the stun of the blow and grabbed the railing.

   The stun of her sudden resignation hung over the office for days.

   Similarshock, jolt, impact, blow, bombshell

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The condition of being dazed or briefly unable to act after a blow or shock.

   The boxer's stun lasted just long enough for his opponent to land another punch.

   Even after the alarms stopped, a kind of stun kept the survivors silent.

   Similardaze, stupor, shock, trance, stupefaction

   Oppositealertness

5. 5
   verbintransitive

   Of a video game character: to enter a dazed state and become temporarily unable to move or act.

   Bosses in this game stun whenever their shield meter runs out.

   Her fighter stunned mid-combo, leaving an opening for the opponent.

   Note

   Gamer usage turns the verb around. In this use the subject is the one dazed, not the one dealing the blow. "The monsters stun when you jump on them" means the monsters become stunned, the reverse of the ordinary transitive verb. Because it takes no object, context has to show whether a character stunning is suffering the effect or causing it.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   In science fiction, a low setting on an energy weapon that knocks its target out without injuring or killing it.

   The officers kept their phasers on stun throughout the boarding.

   Switching from stun to a lethal setting required the commander's override code.

   Note

   A dial position rather than an object, so it is used with on and no article. A weapon is set on stun or left on stun. Captain Kirk's line in The Man Trap, the first Star Trek episode (1966), already has the phrasing settled: "Set your phaser on one quarter. I'll leave mine on stun." There the setting is named alongside a numbered power level.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In billiards, snooker, and pool, the effect on the cue ball when it is struck without topspin, backspin, or sidespin.

   He played the shot with stun so the cue ball stopped dead on contact.

   A touch of stun kept the cue ball from following the red into the pocket.

   Note

   Players and commentators treat it as an amount rather than a thing, usually without an article: a lot of stun, a touch of stun. A line like "Williams will need a lot of stun to avoid going in the middle pocket" is typical commentary phrasing. The mechanics belong with the matching verb. The noun is how a shot's dose of the effect gets measured and discussed.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   In cue sports, to hit the cue ball so it slides with no topspin or backspin, then leaves the object ball at the natural angle.

   Players often stun the cue ball to leave it close to where the object ball stood.

   She stunned the cue ball into the red and stayed perfectly placed for the next shot.

   Note

   A cue-sport verb whose object is the cue ball. The aim is for the ball to arrive sliding rather than rolling. On a full contact it then stops dead, and on a cut it runs off along the natural angle. Players use this to hold position close to where the object ball stood. The noun for the effect is how players measure how much of it a shot carries.

9. 9
   noundialectalNewfoundlandcountable or uncountable

   A person who lacks intelligence; a dimwit.

   Only a stun would leave the gate open with the dog in the yard.

   Don't be such a stun. Check the schedule before you drive all the way out there.

   Similardimwit, idiot, fool, dunce, halfwit

   Oppositegenius, brain

   Note

   A Newfoundland word, best used with care away from the island, where listeners will likely hear only the verb. It behaves as an ordinary noun, as in a stun or such a stun. It fills the same slot as dimwit or fool, and it tends toward exasperation rather than real insult.

10. 10
    verbslangSingaporetransitive

    To punish an unsuspecting soldier for leaving equipment unguarded by taking it away.

    A corporal stunned two helmets left outside the mess tent during the exercise.

    Instructors will stun any weapon found leaning unattended against a wall.

    Similarconfiscate, seize, pinch, swipe

    Note

    Singaporean military slang, safe to use only among people who share it. Elsewhere a "stunned rifle" would just sound odd. The object of the verb is the neglected item, not the soldier: you stun a magazine or a helmet left lying unguarded, and the careless owner is the one who loses it. The sense works as a punishment for neglect, not as theft.

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