They who strip not ideas from the marks men use for
them, but confound them with words, must have
endless dispute. --Locke.
Let us go down, and there confound their language.
--Gen. xi. 7.
2. To mistake for another; to identify falsely.
They [the tinkers] were generally vagrants and
pilferers, and were often confounded with the
gypsies. --Macaulay.
3. To throw into confusion or disorder; to perplex; to strike
with amazement; to dismay.
The gods confound... The Athenians both within and
out that wall. --Shak.
They trusted in thee and were not confounded. --Ps.
xxii. 5.
So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood A while as
mute, confounded what to say. --Milton.
4. To destroy; to ruin; to waste. [Obs.]
One man's lust these many lives confounds. --Shak.
How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour? --Shak.
Syn: To abash; confuse; baffle; dismay; astonish; defeat;
terrify; mix; blend; intermingle. See {Abash}.