stun a also stunned [phonetics unavailable]. Collocations fashioned on OED stunpoll 'blockhead' (1794-) D, EDD 1 'stupid fellow' Ha Do So D; cp EDD stunt 6 'unyielding ... sulky; impassive; stupid'; PARTRIDGE stunned for sense 2.
1 Foolish, stupid, naive.
1863 MORETON 33 Stunned—full of apprehension, stupid. 1924 ENGLAND 146 'Now see here, Cap'n, ye stunned fool, sir,' says de engineer, 'you ain't got de sense of a suckin' pig.' 1925 Dial Notes v, 344 Stunned—extremely foolish; silly. 1927 Christmas Messenger 47 A person will say to the teacher, 'Master, that's a cruel "stun boy."' [1954] 1972 RUSSELL 39 Ah, I was stun, sir... But Lizzie was smarter. 1955 ENGLISH 41 Stunned as an owl. T 69-64 You come home an' if you were anyway smart you'd learn [your lessons] quick, and if you weren't, if you were kind of stunned, they'd take ya all night. 1971 Evening Telegram 21 May, p. 3 'My what a head that man got,' said the skipper to his missus. 'Yes, sir, I will admit it,' I replied modestly, 'but I'm only a stunned-poll alongside of some.' 1976 Daily News 22 Jan, p. 3 Anyone who knows anything might be inclined to the conclusion that [he] is just another stunned Newf. 1980 Evening Telegram 8 Nov, p. 6 That walk over the hills to the berry grounds was real pretty [but] we were too stunned to appreciate it.
2 Intoxicated (1924 ENGLAND 321).
T 187/8-65 'Let's carry home Uncle Jack. He's gettin' pretty stunned.'
3 In comb stunned whooper: Newfoundland pine grosbeak; MOPE (Pinicola enucleator eschatosus).
1964 Evening Telegram 28 Oct, p. 5 In this part of the country, though, it is called a 'stunned hooper' or perhaps it is supposed to be 'stunned whooper.' The 'stunned' part of the name is, of course, a reference to its lack of caution, to the fact that it can easily be killed with an air rifle, a sling shot, or a thrown stone.
