befool

From Middle English bifolen, equivalent to be- +‎ fool.

befool (third-person singular simple present befools, present participle befooling, simple past and past participle befooled)

1. (transitive, archaic) To make a fool out of (someone); to fool, trick, or deceive (someone).
   • 1605, Joseph Hall, Meditations and Vowes, Diuine and Morall, London: John Porter, 63,

     Nothing doth so befoole a man as extreme passion; this doth both make them fooles, which otherwise are not; and show them to be fooles that are so […]

   • 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes, Chapter 40,

     Flattery is their nature—to coax, flatter and sweetly befool some one is every woman’s business.

   • 1901, Andrew Lang, “The Fairy of the Dawn” in The Violet Fairy Book,

     But above all beware never to look the Fairy of the Dawn in the face, for she has eyes that will bewitch you, and glances that will befool you.

   • 2009 July 13, "BJP workers stage protest after leader dies in hospital," TImes of India (retrieved 29 May 2013):

     They alleged Dr Sidhu had no specialization in reducing weight and was only befooling innocent people.

• Although archaic in Western countries, this verb is still current in the English of South Asia.