bemuse

English

WOTD – 14 May 2008

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈmjuːz/, /bəˈmjuːz/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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Verb

1. (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

2. (archaic, humorous) To devote to the Muses.
   • 1705, Alexander Pope, Letters:

     When those incorrigible things, Poets, are once irrecoverably Be-mus'd

Translations

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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• embues