Definition of "bemuse"

bemuse

/bɪˈmjuːz/

verb
third-person singular simple present bemuses, present participle bemusing, simple past and past participle bemused
1. (transitive) To confuse or bewilder.
  Quotations
  [With] fairy tales bemused the shepherd lies.
  1771, James Foot, Penseroso
  the bad metaphysics with which they bemuse themselves
  1847, Hugh Miller, First Impressions of England and its people
  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. (transitive, sometimes proscribed) To be amused, especially sardonically.
3. (archaic, humorous) To devote to the Muses.
  Quotations
  When those incorrigible things, Poets, are once irrecoverably Be-mus'd
  1705, Alexander Pope, Letters
4. (obsolete, slang, transitive) To make drunk; to intoxicate.
  Quotations
  a parson much be-mus'd in beer
  1735, Alexander Pope, Satires of Dr. Donne versified
  This old man generally bemused himself in beer, once a fortnight.
  1784, Edward Harwood, The Case of the Rev. Dr Harwood, page 27
  […] 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

Definition of "bemuse"

bemuse

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations