Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WON'DER, n. [Sax. wunder; G. wunder; D. wonder; Sw. and Dan. under; qu. Gr. φαινω, to show; and hence a sight; or from the root of Sp. espanto, a panic.]

1. That emotion which is excited by novelty, or the presentation to the sight or mind, of something new, unusual, strange, great, extraordinary, or not well understood; something that arrests the attention by its novelty, grandeur or inexplicableness. Wonder expresses less than astonishment, and much less than amazement. It differs from admiration, in not being necessarily accompanied with love, esteem or approbation, nor directed to persons. But wonder sometimes is nearly allied to astonishment, and the exact extent of the meaning of such words can hardly be graduated. They were filled with wonder and amazement. – Acts iii. Wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance. – Johnson.
2. Cause of wonder; that which excites surprise; a strange thing; a prodigy. To try things oft, and never to give over, doth wonders. – Bacon. I am as a wonder to many. – Ps. lxxi.
3. Any thing mentioned with surprise. Babylon, the wonder of all tongues. – Milton.
4. A miracle. – Exod. iii. Wonders of the world. The seven wonders of the world were the Egyptian pyramids, the mausoleum erected by Artemisia, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the walls and hanging gardens of Babylon, the colossus at Medea, the statue of Jupiter Olympius, and the Pharos or watch-tower of Alexandria.