Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To cause (someone) to be unable to think clearly or be sensitive to the surroundings; daze.
  • transitive verb To amaze; astonish.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make stupid or torpid; blunt the faculties of: deprive of sensibility by any means; make dull or dead to external influences: as, to be stupefied by a blow on the head, by strong drink, or by grief.
  • To deprive of mobility: said of a substance or material.
  • To become stupid or torpid; lose interest or sensibility; grow dull.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make stupid; to make dull; to blunt the faculty of perception or understanding in; to deprive of sensibility; to make torpid.
  • transitive verb obsolete To deprive of material mobility.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To dull the senses or capacity to think thereby reducing responsiveness; to dazzle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be a mystery or bewildering to
  • verb make dull or stupid or muddle with drunkenness or infatuation
  • verb make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English stupefien, from Old French stupefier, from Latin stupefacere : stupēre, to be stunned + facere, to make; see fact.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ultimately from Latin stupefaciō ("strike dumb, stun with amazement, stupefy"), from stupeō ("I am stunned, speechless") (English stupid, stupor) + faciō ("do, make").

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Examples

  • Of course, I aim to stupefy, which is why I've posted the one track that's probably the most different from the original.

    IT'S A TRAP! Scandinavian Music Journal 2008

  • He is accused of using date rape drugs dissolved in champagne to "stupefy" his victims before attacking them in the back of the cab.

    icScotland 2009

  • John Worboys is accused of using date rape drugs dissolved in champagne to "stupefy" his victims before attacking them in the back of the cab.

    Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories 2009

  • Here now, a hot factoid of curious news that will stupefy your parents and confound any extant grandparents and make many fundamentalists and most Mormons clutch their dogmas to their quivering breasts in mild but surefire panic.

    Mark Morford: May You Now Live in Sin Forevermore Mark Morford 2011

  • Six Missouri republicans -- "the stupefy me six," let's call them -- are hard at work trying to make Missouri kids stupid.

    Shawn Lawrence Otto: Missouri, The 'Stupefy Me' State? Shawn Lawrence Otto 2012

  • In a thematic follow-up to the Food Court Musical, the merrymakers headed to a grocery store to stupefy and delight its patrons.

    Clip du jour: Grocery Store Musical | EW.com 2009

  • Here now, a hot factoid of curious news that will stupefy your parents and confound any extant grandparents and make many fundamentalists and most Mormons clutch their dogmas to their quivering breasts in mild but surefire panic.

    Mark Morford: May You Now Live in Sin Forevermore Mark Morford 2011

  • Here now, a hot factoid of curious news that will stupefy your parents and confound any extant grandparents and make many fundamentalists and most Mormons clutch their dogmas to their quivering breasts in mild but surefire panic.

    Mark Morford: May You Now Live in Sin Forevermore Mark Morford 2011

  • Here now, a hot factoid of curious news that will stupefy your parents and confound any extant grandparents and make many fundamentalists and most Mormons clutch their dogmas to their quivering breasts in mild but surefire panic.

    Mark Morford: May You Now Live in Sin Forevermore Mark Morford 2011

  • Six Missouri republicans -- "the stupefy me six," let's call them -- are hard at work trying to make Missouri kids stupid.

    Shawn Lawrence Otto: Missouri, The 'Stupefy Me' State? Shawn Lawrence Otto 2012

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