Word of the Day (3/31/09): bamboozle

bamboozle (bam bo̵̅o̅′zəl) - transitive verb

Bamboozle means to deceive or cheat by trickery; dupe. Though the etymological roots of this word might "bamboozle" experts, it seems to have first been used in a play in the early 1700s, where a character complains about "sham proofs, that they propos'd to bamboozle me with."

Jonathan Swift included bamboozle in a list he compiled of words he felt were "corrupting the English language" (“The Continual Corruption of our English Tongue,” 1710).

The word "bombaze" was a Scottish term that meant "to confuse; mystify" and this may be a source of origination. Though most words are taken from other languages and reformed into current words, bamboozle seems to be an elusive one that experts can't quite agree upon the origin of.

Of course, nowadays, the traveling music festival The Bamboozle, might be the association that most people have to the word.