subs. (colloquial).—Generic for astonishment: see WHOPPER. STUNNING = amazing, strikingly large, good, etc.; TO PUT THE STUNNERS ON = to perplex, confound, astonish.
1848. THACKERAY, The Book of Snobs, xxv. For the performance of ‘Gettin’ up Stairs,’ I have no other name but that it was a STUNNER.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, I. 471. He wears a STUNNING fawny on his finger.
1853. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, x. You get on STUNNINGLY, Gig-lamps.
1857. WHITTY, Friends of Bohemia, I. 193. ‘And he had seen her at the Crystal Palace? and she was sure he had applauded—so kind!’ ‘Why—yes,’ said Jack, making himself at home, ‘I think you are a STUNNER!’
1863. OUIDA, Held in Bondage, I. 245. The girl is STUNNING, the blokes say.
1874. BEETON, The Siliad, 102.
| ‘Golden Nell,’ | |
| The idol of the West, the peerless belle … | |
| ‘She is a STUNNER!’ |
1877. Boston Journal, 19 May. This is a STUNNER,—a sockdolager, so to speak.
1890. BOLDREWOOD, The Squatter’s Dream, 29. She’s a smart gin when she’s away from grog, and a STUNNER at cutting out on a camp.
1900. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 16. 1. Lady Dashout. ‘Those short skirts … must be simply delightful to walk in.’ Lady Jack. ‘They’re perfectly STUNNING.’
