befuddle

Verb

befuddle (third-person singular simple present befuddles, present participle befuddling, simple past and past participle befuddled)

1. (transitive) To perplex, confuse (someone).
   • The explanation left him completely befuddled.
   • Slowly the ape-man picked out the meaning of the various combinations of letters on the printed page, and as he read, the little bugs, for as such he always thought of the letters, commenced to run about in a most confusing manner, blurring his vision and befuddling his thoughts.1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Nightmare”, in Jungle Tales of Tarzan, A. C. McClurg

   Synonyms:

   addle, baffle, vex, lose, embroil, stick, stump, baffound, bamboozle, bedevil

2. (transitive) To stupefy (someone), especially with alcohol.
   • […] to the American and French alcoholics, who drink in order to get drunk and befuddle the brain1983, Basile Kerblay, Modern Soviet Society, page 290