[A passive pple. confused is found from 14th c.; but the present stem and active voice are only of modern use, having been formerly expressed by CONFOUND: cf. F. confondre, confus, L. confundĕre, confūsus. The vb. is entered by Bailey (folio), 1730–6, and thence by Johnson, but there are no examples, exc. of the pa. pple. in J., Todd, or Richardson. The pple. was thus evidently an English adaptation of F. confus or L. confus-us, with the native ppl. ending -ED, and the present stem a much later inference from it.
Hence, it may be said that confound had formerly 3 pa. pples., confuse, confused, confounded; the first two only passive, the last used also in forming the perfect active: of these confuse became at last solely an adjective; confused has given origin to a separate verb, confuse, of which it is now the pa. pple.; confounded remains the sole pa. pple. of confound.]
[† 1. trans. To discomfit, to rout, to bring to ruin; = CONFOUND 1. Only in passive. Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 304. Confused þei went away þat fals companie.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxiv. 112. Alssone ȝe schall be confused and schent and destruyd.]
2. To discomfit in mind or feelings; to abash, disconcert, put to shame; to distract, perplex, bewilder; = CONFOUND 3, 4. Till 19th c. only passive.
[c. 1350. St. Brice, 32, in Horstmann, O. E. Leg., II. 156. And he was all confused for schame.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxiv. 110. He went fra þam schamed and confused.
1485. Caxton, Paris & V. (1868), 37. I am half confused.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxxviii. 52. Wherof Loys … was so confused, that he wold no more returne agayne into Brabant.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, III. 145. Amaz’d, confus’d, he found his pow’r expir’d.
1728. Chetwood, Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 72. I was so very much confus’d and frighten’d.]
active. 1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 547. Those various combinations … are sufficient to confuse a weaker mind.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xvi. Or has the shock … Confused me like the unhappy bark.
3. To throw into disorder or confusion; to disorder; = CONFOUND 5. Till 19th c. only passive.
[1635. N. R., Camden’s Hist. Eliz., I. viii. 65. Sidney … found Munster the … most confused.
1728. Chetwood, Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 34. They were all confus’d like a Skein of Silk pull’d the wrong way.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, II. 13. Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d.]
active. 1861. Wright, Ess. Archæol., I. vi. 86. He has done more to confuse and mystify the subject than to clear it up.
1861. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 146. I fear I might confuse your arrangements by interfering.
[4. To mix up or mingle so that it becomes impossible or difficult to distinguish the elements; = CONFOUND 6. Only passive.]
1550. Cranmer, Defence, 48 b. In euery parte of the bread & wyne is altogither, whole head, whole feete … confused and mixte withoute distinction or diuersitie.
1552. Huloet, Confused or myxt together, promiscuus.
1586. Bright, Melanch., xiii. 69. Diverse qualities … not confused together in one, against nature.
1612. Woodall, Surgeon’s Mate, Wks. (1653), 269. Liquid things (as wax, rosin, pitch, etc.) may likewise be confused, but by Eliquation.
1819. W. Lawrence, Lect. Physiol. (1822), 282. A thick nose, confused on either side with the projecting cheeks.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 256. Their arms, legs, and bodies were confused together [in a struggle].
5. To mix up in the mind, to fail to distinguish, erroneously regard as identical, mistake one for another; = CONFOUND 7.
1863. Ruskin, Munera P. (1880), 29. We in reality confuse wealth with money.
1882. J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., II. 441. Catena seems here to confuse the dates of events.
6. intr. (rare.) a. (for refl.) To become confused or indistinct. b. To fail to distinguish (between).
1816. Byron, Lett. to Moore, in Elze, Life, v. 139. I find them fading, or confusing (if such a word may be) in my memory.
1885. Pall Mall G., 13 July, 5/2. He confuses between the Flossgraben and the ditches of the Leipsic road.
