Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An obsolete spelling of surprise.

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of surprise.
  • verb Alternative spelling of surprise.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The Earl hesitated in surprize, and the generosity of Alleyn called a blush into his face.

    The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne: A Highland Story 1789

  • Lost in surprize, Osbert stood for some time looking down upon an inner court, whence the sounds seemed to arise; after a few minutes he observed a young lady enter from that side on which the tower arose; on her arm rested an elder one, in whose face might be traced the lines of decaying beauty; but it was visible, from the melancholy which clouded her features, that the finger of affliction had there anticipated the ravages of time.

    The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne: A Highland Story 1789

  • As the RR-FU, that was one very, very sad situation. .at 50 things like this do not surprize, which is sad to say.

    Savagery in South Dakota 2009

  • As the RR-FU, that was one very, very sad situation. .at 50 things like this do not surprize, which is sad to say.

    Savagery in South Dakota 2009

  • My surprize is the greater because on Wednesday, the very day of his coming to Parklands, we had a most unexpected and unwelcome visit from Lady Susan, looking all cheerfulness and good-humour, and seeming more as if she were to marry him when she got to London than as if parted from him for ever.

    Lady Susan 2002

  • My surprize is the greater because on Wednesday, the very day of his coming to Parklands, we had a most unexpected and unwelcome visit from Lady Susan, looking all cheerfulness and good-humour, and seeming more as if she were to marry him when she got to London than as if parted from him for ever.

    Lady Susan Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 1892

  • My surprize is the greater because on Wednesday, the very day of his coming to Parklands, we had a most unexpected and unwelcome visit from Lady Susan, looking all cheerfulness and good-humour, and seeming more as if she were to marry him when she got to London than as if parted from him for ever.

    Lady Susan Jane Austen 1796

  • His not making choice of a pompous name, and introducing his poem with an exordium, is rather a beauty than a fault; for by these means he leaves room for surprize, which is the first excellency in any poem, and to strike out beauties where they are not expected, has a happy influence upon the reader.

    The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland Cibber, Theophilus, 1703-1758 1753

  • His not making choice of a pompous name, and introducing his poem with an exordium, is rather a beauty than a fault; for by these means he leaves room for surprize, which is the first excellency in any poem, and to strike out beauties where they are not expected, has a happy influence upon the reader.

    The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume II Theophilus Cibber 1730

  • Indeed, nothing can be of more moral use than the imperfections which are seen in examples of this kind; since such form a kind of surprize, more apt to affect and dwell upon our minds than the faults of very vicious and wicked persons.

    The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling 2004

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