- stricken (adj.)
- 1510s, "wounded, affected (by disease, trouble, etc.)," adjective use of archaic past participle of strike (v.). Figurative meaning "overwhelmed with terror, grief, etc." is from 1530s. An earlier development is reflected in 13c. phrase striken in elde "advanced in years," from strike in the sense of "to move, go," hence "far advanced."
