Dictionary

bemuse en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /bɪˈmjuːz/ (UK, US)
• /bəˈmjuːz/ (UK, US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (transitive) To confuse or bewilder.
   • the bad metaphysics with which they bemuse themselves 1847, Hugh Miller, First Impressions of England and its people:
   • [With] fairy tales bemused the shepherd lies. 1771, James Foot, Penseroso:
   • With regard to definition-writing students, as a result of having spent years padding out written assignments in order to meet word-length requirements, were somewhat bemused to be told that fewer words were better than a long, wordy definition. 2015, James Lambert, “Lexicography as a teaching tool: A Hong Kong case study”, in Lan Li, Jamie McKeown, Liming Liu, editors, Dictionaries and corpora: Innovations in reference science. Proceedings of ASIALEX 2015 Hong Kong, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, page 146:
2. (proscribed, sometimes, transitive) To be amused, especially sardonically.
3. (archaic, humorous) To devote to the Muses.
   • When those incorrigible things, Poets, are once irrecoverably Be-mus'd 1705, Alexander Pope, Letters:
4. (obsolete, slang, transitive) To make drunk; to intoxicate.
   • […] more innocently, and no doubt profitably, than if he had dined at a big-wig's board or bemused himself with smoke and beer among his brethren of the pen. 1891, Grace L. Keith Johnston, The Halletts: A Country Town Chronicle, volume 3, page 34:
   • This old man generally bemused himself in beer, once a fortnight. 1784, Edward Harwood, The Case of the Rev. Dr Harwood, page 27:
   • a parson much be-mus'd in beer 1735, Alexander Pope, Satires of Dr. Donne versified:

Forms

Deriveds

bemusement

Translations (29)

fi saattaa ymmälle (to confuse or bewilder) · ca desconcertar (to confuse or bewilder) · de verwirren (to confuse or bewilder) · bg смайвам (to confuse or bewilder) · nl verbijsteren (to confuse or bewilder) · ru смуща́ть (to confuse or bewilder) · nl verwarren (to confuse or bewilder) · cs zmást (to confuse or bewilder) · es desconcertar (to confuse or bewilder) · it confondere (to confuse or bewilder) · pl zdeprymować (to confuse or bewilder) · cs vyvést z míry (to confuse or bewilder) · de irritieren (to confuse or bewilder) · cs poplést (to confuse or bewilder) · de nachdenklich stimmen (to confuse or bewilder) · de verwundern (to confuse or bewilder) · ca destarotar (to confuse or bewilder) · fi hämmentää (to confuse or bewilder) · nl in de war brengen (to confuse or bewilder) · fr stupéfier (to confuse or bewilder) · fi häkellyttää (to confuse or bewilder) · bg слисвам (to confuse or bewilder) · ru ошеломлять (to confuse or bewilder) · de verblüffen (to confuse or bewilder) · fr déconcerter (to confuse or bewilder) · bg обърквам (to confuse or bewilder) · pt confuso (to confuse or bewilder) · pl speszyć (to confuse or bewilder) · ru поража́ть (to confuse or bewilder)