shock

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A sudden, upsetting, or surprising event or feeling.

   It came as a shock to learn that our favorite restaurant had closed.

2. 2
   noun

   A sudden painful feeling caused by electricity passing through the body.

   He got a small electric shock from the faulty plug.

3. 3
   verb

   To make someone feel very surprised, upset, or offended.

   The news of the bombing shocked the whole country.

From Middle Dutch schokken (“to push, jolt, shake, jerk”) or Middle French choquer (“to collide with, clash”), from Old Dutch *skokkan (“to shake up and down, shog”), from Proto-Germanic *skukkaną (“to move, shake, tremble”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek-, *(s)keg- (“to shake, stir”); see shake. Cognate with Middle Low German schocken (“collide with, deliver a blow to, move back and forth”), Old High German scoc (“a jolt, swing”), Middle High German schocken (“to swing”) (German schaukeln), Old Norse skykkr…

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