mystify

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English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French mystifier, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, secret, mystic) + (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin -ficare.

Verb

mystify (third-person singular simple present mystifies, present participle mystifying, simple past and past participle mystified)

  1. (transitive) To thoroughly confuse, befuddle, or bewilder.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.
    Solar eclipses continued to mystify ancient humans for thousands of years.

Translations

Further reading