- shock (n.1)
- "sudden blow," 1560s, a military term, from Middle French choc "violent attack," from Old French choquer "strike against," probably from Frankish, from a Proto-Germanic imitative base (cf. Middle Dutch schokken "to push, jolt," Old High German scoc "jolt, swing").
Meaning "a sudden and disturbing impression on the mind" is from 1705; medical sense is attested from 1804. Shock-absorber is attested from 1906; shock wave is from 1907. Shock troops (1917) translates German stoßtruppen and preserves the word's original military sense. - shock (n.2)
- "bundle of grain," early 14c., from Middle Low German schok "shock of corn," originally "group of sixty," from Proto-Germanic *skukka- (cf. Old Saxon skok, Dutch schok "sixty pieces," German Hocke "heap of sheaves").
- shock (n.3)
- "thick mass of hair," 1819, from earlier shock (adj.) "having thick hair" (1680s), and a noun sense of "lap dog having long, shaggy hair" (1630s), from shough (1590s), the name for this type of dog, which was said to have been brought originally from Iceland; the word is perhaps from shock (n.2), or from an Old Norse variant of shag (n.).
- shock (v.)
- "to come into violent contact," 1570s, from shock (n.1). Meaning "to give (something) an electric shock" is from 1706; sense of "to offend, displease" is first recorded 1690s. Related: Shocked; shocking. Shocking pink introduced February 1937 by Italian-born fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.