devastate - overwhelm or overpower; "He was devastated by his grief when his son died"

clutch, get hold of, seize - affect; "Fear seized the prisoners"; "The patient was seized with unberable pains"; "He was seized with a dreadful disease"

arouse, elicit, evoke, provoke, enkindle, kindle, fire, raise - call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses); "arouse pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy"

kill - overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration; "The comedian was so funny, he was killing me!"

benight - overtake with darkness or night

knock out - overwhelm with admiration; "All the guys were knocked out by her charm"

stagger - astound or overwhelm, as with shock; "She was staggered with bills after she tried to rebuild her house following the earthquake"

lock - hold fast (in a certain state); "He was locked in a laughing fit"

burden, saddle, charge - impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to; "He charged her with cleaning up all the files over the weekend"

spread over, cover - form a cover over; "The grass covered the grave"

beat, beat out, vanquish, trounce, crush, shell - come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game"

steamroll, steamroller - overwhelm by using great force; "steamroller the opposition"