astonishment

Etymology

From astonish + -ment.

noun

1. The feeling or experience of being astonished; great surprise.
   The class looked on in astonishment as their teacher proceeded to tear the pages out of the textbook.
   1630, John Milton, “On Shakespear” in Poems of Mr. John Milton, London: Ruth Raworth, 1645 p. 27, Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
   Marilla’s astonishment could not have been greater if Matthew had expressed a predilection for standing on his head. 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 3, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston: L.C. Page, page 41
   Imagine my astonishment when, reaching the bustling street, every Englishwoman I look on is also attired in a dowdy housecoat. 2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 33, in Small Island, London: Review, page 330
2. Something very surprising.
   (colloquial)
   To find Ned Silverton among the habitual frequenters of Mrs. Hatch’s drawing-room was one of Lily’s first astonishments; 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 9, p. 444
   Everything he had seen so far — the great chocolate river, the waterfall, the huge sucking pipes, the candy meadows, the Oompa-Loompas, the beautiful pink boat, and most of all, Mr. Willy Wonka himself — had been so astonishing that he began to wonder whether there could possibly be any more astonishments left. 1964, Roald Dahl, chapter 18, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Puffin, published 1998, page 83
3. (obsolete) Loss of physical sensation; inability to move a part of the body.
   […] there followeth astonishment of the leg that is neere, that it can neither be stretched out right, nor he cannot go on his feet. 1583, Philip Barrough, The Method of Phisicke, London: Thomas Vautroullier, Book 3, Chapter 37, p. 126
4. (obsolete) Loss of mental faculties, inability to think or use one's senses.
   Upon the Stage he so charmed the people into astonishment with his babble, that he made them buy off amain his Drugs; 1678, Aphra Behn, chapter 2, in The Lives of Sundry Notorious Villains, London: for the author, page 30
5. (obsolete) Loss of composure or presence of mind.
   […] as when a man ignorant of the Ceremonies of Court, comming into the presence of a greater Person than he is used to speak to, and stumbling at his entrance, to save himselfe from falling, lets slip his Cloake; to recover his Cloake, lets fall his Hat; and with one disorder after another, discovers his astonishment and rusticity. 1651, Thomas Hobbes, chapter 46, in Leviathan, London: Andrew Crooke, page 374