Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To dismay; confound; be dismayed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive and intransitive, obsolete To dismay; confound; be dismayed.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English amayen, from Old French amaier, esmaier ("to dismay"), from Medieval Latin *exmagāre ("to remove the strength from, dismay"), from ex- + *magāre, from Old Frankish *magan ("to be able"), from Proto-Germanic *maganan (“to be able”), from Proto-Indo-European *mēgh- (“to be able”). Cognate with Old High German magan ("to have power, be able"), Old English magan ("to be able"). More at may.

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