stunt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a difficult, unusual, or dangerous feat

   The stunt is too dangerous and may require a stunt double.

2. 2
   noun

   a creature that has been prevented from attaining full growth

   The whale has been a stunt since the age of ten.

3. 3
   verb

   to stop the growth or development of

   You will stunt your growth by drinking all those artificial sugars.

4. 4
   noun

   A daring or dangerous feat, often involving the display of gymnastic skills.

   He found ways to devise, stage, and film stunts that are like nothing anyone’s ever accomplished. He recorded stunning image after stunning image; practically every frame of Fury Road could be a painting.

From dialectal stunt (“stubborn, dwarfed”), from Middle English stont, stunt (“short, brief”), from Old English stunt (“stupid, foolish, simple”), from Proto-Germanic *stuntaz (“short, compact, stupid, dull”). Cognate with Middle High German stunz (“short”), Old Norse stuttr (“short in stature, dwarfed”). Related to Old English styntan (“to make dull, stupefy, become dull, repress”). More at stint.

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