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shock - What does it mean?

Definition of 'shock'

English

(wikipedia)

Alternative forms

* choque (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

(en-noun)
  • Sudden, heavy impact.
  • The train hit the buffers with a great shock .
  • # (figuratively) Something so surprising that it is stunning.
  • # Electric shock, a sudden burst of electric energy, hitting an animate animal such as a human.
  • # Circulatory shock, a life-threatening medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements.
  • # A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance
  • (mathematics) A discontinuity arising in the solution of a partial differential equation.
  • Derived terms
    (top4) * bow shock * culture shock * economic shock * electric shock * shock absorber (mid4) * shock jock * shock mount * shock rock * shock site * shock therapy (mid4) * shock wave, shockwave * shocker * shocking pink * shockproof * shockumentary (mid4) * shockvertising * supply shock * technology shock * termination shock * toxic shock syndrome (bottom)
    Synonyms
    See

    References

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    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To cause to be emotionally shocked.
  • The disaster shocked the world.
  • To give an electric shock.
  • (obsolete) To meet with a shock; to meet in violent encounter.
  • * De Quincey
  • They saw the moment approach when the two parties would shock together.

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • An arrangement of sheaves for drying, a stook.
  • * Tusser
  • Cause it on shocks to be by and by set.
  • * Thomson
  • Behind the master walks, builds up the shocks .
  • (commerce|dated) A lot consisting of sixty pieces; a term applied in some Baltic ports to loose goods.
  • (by extension) A tuft or bunch of something (e.g. hair, grass)
  • a head covered with a shock of sandy hair
  • (obsolete|by comparison) A small dog with long shaggy hair, especially a poodle or spitz; a shaggy lapdog.
  • * 1827 Thomas Carlyle, The Fair-Haired Eckbert
  • When I read of witty persons, I could not figure them but like the little shock (translating the German Spitz).

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To collect, or make up, into a shock or shocks; to stook.
  • to shock rye

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