nonplus
See also: non plus and non-plus
English
Etymology
From Latin nōn plūs (“no more, no further”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nɒnˈplʌs/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ʌs
Noun
nonplus (plural nonpluses)
- A state of perplexity or bewilderment.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 46, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- altering Vaudemont, to Vallemontanus, and metamorphosing them, by suting them to the Græcian or Latin tongue, we know not what to make of them, and are often at a non-plus.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, OCLC 21766567:
- Both of them are a perfect non-plus and baffle to all human understanding.
- 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview 2001, p. 81:
- ‘I believe they'd soon be put to a non-plus — You'd be quite too much for them, I'm sure.’
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Verb
nonplus (third-person singular simple present nonplusses or nonpluses, present participle nonplussing or nonplusing, simple past and past participle nonplussed or nonplused)
- (transitive) to perplex or bewilder someone; to confound or flummox.
- 1934, P.G. Wodehouse, chapter II, in Right Ho, Jeeves:
- “You couldn’t have told it from my manner, but I was feeling more than a bit nonplussed. The spectacle before me was enough to nonplus anyone.”
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Derived terms
- nonplussed
Translations
To perplex
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