bemuse

English

WOTD – 14 May 2008

From be- +‎ muse. In meaning, influenced by bemaze.

bemuse (third-person singular simple present bemuses, present participle bemusing, simple past and past participle bemused)

(transitive) To confuse or bewilder.
- 1735, Alexander Pope, Satires of Dr. Donne versified
  a parson much be-mus'd in beer
- 1771, James Foot, Penseroso
  [With] fairy tales bemused the shepherd lies.
- 1847, Hugh Miller, First Impressions of England and its people
  the bad metaphysics with which they bemuse themselves
(archaic, humorous) To devote to the Muses.
- 1705, Alexander Pope, Letters
  When those incorrigible things, Poets, are once irrecoverably Be-mus'd

to confuse or bewilder

Bulgarian: обърквам (bg) (obǎrkvam), смайвам (bg) (smajvam), слисвам (bg) (slisvam)
Catalan: destarotar (ca), desconcertar (ca)
Dutch: verbijsteren (nl), verwarren (nl), in de war brengen
Finnish: hämmentää (fi), häkellyttää, saattaa ymmälle
French: déconcerter (fr), stupéfier (fr)
German: verwirren (de), verblüffen (de), irritieren (de), nachdenklich stimmen, verwundern (de)

Italian: confondere (it)
Polish: speszyć (pl), zdeprymować
Portuguese: confuso (pt)
Russian: поража́ть (ru) (poražátʹ), ошеломлять (ru) (ošelomljatʹ), смуща́ть (ru) (smuščátʹ)
Spanish: desconcertar (es)

to devote to the Muses

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.