discomfits

Verb

discomfit (third-person singular simple present discomfits, present participle discomfiting or (rare) discomfitting, simple past and past participle discomfited or (rare) discomfitted)

1. (transitive) To embarrass (someone) greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
   • Don't worry. Your joke did not really discomfit me.

   Synonyms:

   abash, disconcert, abase, bring low, confuse, confound, debase, degrade, demean, depress

2. (rare, transitive) To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate; disconcert.
   • In these disguises, Maitland argued, he would certainly avoid recognition, and so discomfit any mischief planned by the enemies of Margaret.1886, Andrew Lang, chapter 10, in The Mark Of Cain

   Synonyms:

   foil, thwart

3. (archaic, transitive) To defeat completely; to rout.
   • Claudius therefore leauing this Ile, paſſed into Pomonia the chiefeſt of all the Orkenies, where diſcomfiting ſuch as appeared abroad to make reſiſtance, he beſieged the king of thoſe Iles named Ganus, within a caſtell where he was withdrawen, [...]1585, John Hooker, “The Historie of Scotland, […]”, in The Second Volume of the Chronicles: […], London: […] Iohn Harison, George Bishop, Rafe Newberie, Henrie Denham, and Thomas Woodcocke, published...

   Synonyms:

   overthrow, vanquish