Also 4 -syun, -syoun, -zion, 4–6 -sioun(e, 5 -syone, Sc. -syown, 5–6 -syon, 6 -cion. [ME. a. OF. confusion (11th c.):—L. confūsiōn-em, n. of action from confundĕre to CONFOUND. Used in Eng. as n. of action and condition for both CONFOUND and CONFUSE.]
1. Discomfiture, overthrow, ruin, destruction, perdition. ? Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 195. Do þoy þin owene confusion.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 1747. Seþþe, wonede þere a dragun, þat dede many man confusyun.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 656. Had thai nocht beyn full of tresoune Bot that maid thair confusioune.
1494. Fabyan, V. cxvi. 90. Fredegunde … soughte many vnlefull meanes howe she myght brynge to confusyon the thyrde sone of hir husbonde.
1548. Hall, Chron., 14 b. Kynge Richarde percevyng them armed, knewe well that they came to his confusion.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. v. 29. As by the strength of their illusion, Shall draw him on to his Confusion.
1611. Bible, Isa. xxxiv. 11. He shall stretch out vpon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptinesse.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 996. With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded.
1757. Gray, Bard, I. i. Ruin seize thee, ruthless King! Confusion on thy banners wait.
1788. Priestley, Lect. Hist., I. iii. 30. The slavery of Greece, and … the confusion and slavery of Athens too.
b. A cause of overthrow or ruin. (Cf. ruin.)
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1365, Hips. & Medea. Thow sly deuourere & confusioun Of tendere wemen.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1625), 108. How he being the sonne of a Christian … should so wickedly become the confusion of his brethren.
c. as an imprecation or exclamation. (Cf. CONFOUND 2.)
1605. Shaks., Lear, II. iv. 97. Vengeance, Plague, Death, Confusion!
1768. Goldsm., Good-n. Man, v. Death! what’s here?… What can all this mean?… Confusion!
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., IV. ii. 229. Confusion! Stand to your arms.
1842. S. Lover, H. Andy, iii. Drinking confusion to Handy Andy.
2. Mental discomfiture, putting to shame.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5299. He sal shew, to þair confusioun, Alle þe signes of his passioun.
c. 1350. E. E. Psalter (E.E.T.S.), xliii[i]. 17. Confusion of my face haþ couered me.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 146. To sete some conclusion, Which shulde be confusion Unto this knight.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 90. Confusyone or schame, confusio.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xxx[i]. i. In the, O Lorde, is my trust: let me neuer be put to confucion [1611 ashamed].
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., lxi. 248. There will be nothing left you but a dreadfull confusion to humble you.
a. 1831. A. Knox, Rem. (1844), I. 65. They would find, to their confusion, that Gregory … was, what they … would call a Methodist.
† b. Overthrow or discomfiture in argument; confutation. Obs.
1450–1530. Myrr. our Ladye, 312. To strength of oure faythe, and to confusyon of heretykes.
a. 1555. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (1845), 247. Is this a sufficient confusion of purgatory.
3. Mental perturbation or agitation such as prevents the full command of the faculties; embarrassment, perplexity, fluttered condition.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. ii. 179. Maddam, you haue bereft me of all words … And there is such confusion in my powers. Ibid. (1602), Ham., III. i. 2. And can you by no drift of circumstance Get from him why he puts on this confusion.
1611. Heywood, Gold. Age, III. Wks. 1874, III. 42. What Monarch wrapt in my confusions Can tell what patience meanes?
1728. Chetwood, Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 226. The Sight of me, I observ’d, gave the Woman some Confusion.
1768. Goldsm., Good-n. Man, III. You amaze me. How shall I conceal my confusion?
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. ii. 62. Suffering under a revulsion of outraged modesty, and sweet confusions.
4. The action of confounding, confusing, or throwing into disorder: spec. in reference to the ‘confusion of tongues’ at the tower of Babel.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), vi. 21. Þe grete Babilon, whare þe confusion of tunges was made.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 20. In this tyme was the Toure of Confusion mad.
1555. Eden, Decades, Pref. (Arb.), 53. Attemptynge lyke an other Nemroth to buylde a newe towre of confusion.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vi. § 8. The first great judgement of God upon the ambition of man was the confusion of tongues.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 62. Thus was the building left Ridiculous, and the work Confusion nam’d.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., A ij b. The Curse of the Confusion, with all the unhappy consequences of it.
5. A confused or disordered condition; disorder.
c. 1540. Pilgrim’s Tale, 224, in Thynne, Animadv., App. 83. For there ruell is but confucion.
1576. Fleming, Panop. Epist., 91. In beholding desolate disorder and confusion.
1634. Documents agst. Prynne (1877), 18. Forme or order in his booke there is not any, it is all full of confusion.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 830. The diff’ring Species in Confusion lye.
1772. Sheridan, in Sheridaniana (1826), 39. The house was in such confusion it was impossible for him to go in.
1815. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., XII. 482. The enemy … fled in the utmost confusion.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. iii. 269. The meeting broke up in confusion.
b. In reference to ideas, notions, etc.
1530. Palsgr., 354. That rule holdeth nat, for it shoulde engendre to moche confusyon.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iv. 135. Thes Lutheranys, wych are fallen into many errorys and gret confusyon.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. I. i. 87. Both of which are equally productive of confusion.
1845. Polson, in Encycl. Metrop., 732/1. The whole question is involved in much confusion.
1873. M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma, ii. As we shall hereafter see, the confusion becomes worse confounded.
c. Confused condition of anything.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xv. (1627), 199. A Synchesis, or a disordered confusion of their words.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xi. 190. This confusion of my thoughts kept me waking.
1875. Jowett, Plato, V. 171. Out of intercourse with strangers there arises great confusion of manners.
d. with pl.
1635. Shirley, Coronat., II. 303. I am circled with confusions, I’ll do somewhat.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1756), 148. Among such Confusions as I saw them in.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Uses of Gt. Men, Wks. (Bohn), I. 276. The geometer; the engineer; the musician … make an easy way for all, through unknown and impossible confusions.
e. quasi-concr. A confused assemblage of. (rare.)
1791. Mrs. Inchbald, Simp. Story, IV. x. 132. A confusion of persons assembling towards the apartment.
1835. Sir J. Ross, N. W. Pass., xxxix. 526. A confusion of piled blocks.
6. Tumult, excited and disorderly commotion. b. Civil commotion or disorder.
1555. Eden, Decades, 70. Leste shee shuld bee slayne in the confusion of the bataile.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Pref. iii. § 2. God is not a God of sedition and confusion.
1611. Bible, Acts xix. 29. And the whole citie was filled with confusion.
1791. Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. VI. 21. The King … interfered to save Holland from confusion.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 5. A crowd had already gathered round him, and the confusion was beyond words.
c. pl. Disorders, commotions.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 66. Peace ho for shame, confusions Cure liues not in these confusions.
1662. Bk. Com. Prayer (1844), Pref. The late unhappy confusions.
1704. Addison, Italy, 8. Amidst all the Confusions of Europe.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. Ind., II. 273. Those confusions continued to rage without intermission till the year 1572.
7. Mixture in which the distinction of the elements is lost by fusion, blending, or intimate intermingling.
c. 1350. E. E. Psalter, 195. He is on in alle, nouȝt þurȝ confusion of substaunce, bot þurȝ onhede of persone.
1549. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Ath. Creed. One altogether, not by confusion of substaunce: but by vnitie of person.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 405. In the case of confusion of goods, where those of two persons are so intermixed, that the several portions can be no longer distinguished.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 114. Without any change, confusion, or mixture of the two natures.
† b. Fusion together. Obs. rare.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 269. Confusion is properly a mixture of such liquid things as are fluid, and of one and the same nature.
1651. Lennard, trans. Charron’s Wisd., III. vii. (1670), 410. Perfect friendship, which is a very free, plain, and universal confusion of two souls … A confusion, not only a Conjunction, and joyning together.
8. The quality of being confused, indistinct, or obscure: said of objects of sensuous or mental attention.
1729. Butler, Serm., Pref. Wks. 1874, II. 7. Confusion and perplexity in writing is indeed without excuse.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, viii. 42. Confusion will be hereby avoided when the object is seen near.
9. The confounding or mistaking of one for another; failure to distinguish. Const. of (things), of one with another, between (things).
1771. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 281. To prevent that confusion of distinct matters into which … I saw you inclined to run.
1862. Ruskin, Munera P., 29. The third error in the popular view is the confusion of Guardianship with Possession.
1885. Clodd, Myths & Dr., I. vi. 105. That confusion between names and things which marks all primitive thinking.
