stunt

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

stunt, v. t. [See Stint.].

 To hinder from growing to the natural size; to prevent the growth of; to stint, to dwarf; as, to stunt a child; to stunt a plant.  [1913 Webster]
"When, by a cold penury, I blast the abilities of a nation, and stunt the growth of its active energies, the ill or may do is beyond all calculation."  [1913 Webster]

stunt, n. 

•  A check in growth; also, that which has been checked in growth; a stunted animal or thing.  [1913 Webster]
•  Specifically: A whale two years old, which, having been weaned, is lean, and yields but little blubber.  [1913 Webster]

stunt, n. [Cf. Stint a task.].

•  A feat hard to perform; an act which is striking for the skill, strength, or the like, required to do it; a feat.

  "An extraordinary man does three or four different “stunts” with remarkable dexterity."

  "He does not try to do stunts; and, above all, he does not care to go in swimming."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  an unusual action performed to gain public attention; as, a publicity stunt.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

stunt, v.tr.
1 retard the growth or development of.
2 dwarf, cramp.

Derivative

stuntedness n.

stunt, n. & v.
--n.
1 something unusual done to attract attention.
2 a trick or daring manoeuvre.
3 a display of concentrated energy.
--v.intr. perform stunts, esp. aerobatics.

Idiom

stunt man a man employed to take an actor's place in performing dangerous stunts.

Etymology

orig. unkn.: first used in 19th-c. US college athletics

THESAURUS

stunt

abbreviate, abridge, abstract, accomplished fact, accomplishment, achievement, act, acta, acting, action, adventure, arrest, bank, blow, bob, boil down, buffoonery, business, caper, capsulize, characterization, check, clip, compress, condense, contract, coup, crab, crop, curb, curtail, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut short, dealings, deed, delimit, dido, dip, dock, doing, doings, dwarf, effort, elide, end, endeavor, enterprise, epitomize, exploit, fait accompli, feat, feather, fishtail, foreshorten, gag, gest, go, ham, hammy acting, hamper, hand, handiwork, hinder, hoke, hokum, hold back, impair, impede, impersonation, job, limit, loop, maneuver, measure, mimesis, mimicking, mimicry, miming, move, mow, mummery, nip, operation, overacting, overt act, pantomiming, passage, patter, performance, performing, personation, playacting, playing, plow, poll, pollard, porpoise, portrayal, proceeding, production, projection, prune, pull out, pull up, push down, reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, representation, res gestae, restrict, retard, retrench, roll, runty, shave, shear, shorten, sideslip, skid, slapstick, slow, snub, spin, spiral, stage business, stage directions, stage presence, step, stop, stroke, sum up, summarize, suppress, synopsize, take in, taking a role, telescope, thing, thing done, tour de force, transaction, trick, trim, truncate, turn, undertaking, undulate, work, works, yaw

ROGET THESAURUS

stunt

Shortness

VB be short, render short, shorten, curtail, abridge, abbreviate, take in, reduce, compress, epitomize, retrench, cut short, obtruncate, scrimp, cut, chop up, hack, hew, cut down, pare down, clip, dock, lop, prune, shear, shave, mow, reap, crop, snub, truncate, pollard, stunt, nip, check the growth of, foreshorten (in drawing).