"check in growth, dwarf," 1650s, from verb uses of Middle English adjective stunnt "foolish," from Old English stunt "short-witted, foolish" (as in stuntspræc "foolish talk"), from Proto-Germanic *stuntaz (source of Old Norse stuttr "short"). Related: Stunted; stunting.

"feat to attract attention," 1878, American English college sports slang, of uncertain origin. Speculated to be a variant of colloquial stump "dare, challenge" (1871), or of German stunde, literally "hour." The movie stunt man is attested from 1930.