Both Uses of
confound
in
Love's Labour's Lost
- That sport best pleases that doth least know how; Where zeal strives to content, and the contents Die in the zeal of those which it presents; Their form confounded makes most form in mirth, When great things labouring perish in their birth.†
Scene 5.2 *confounded = confused or frustrated
- — Here stand I, lady; dart thy skill at me; Bruise me with scorn, confound me with a flout; Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance; Cut me to pieces with thy keen conceit; And I will wish thee never more to dance, Nor never more in Russian habit wait.†
Scene 5.2
Definitions:
-
(1)
(confound) to confuse, prove wrong, frustrate, or express frustrationin various senses, including:
confuse or surprise -- sometimes specifically to confuse one thing with another
- "confounded by the puzzle" -- confused or perplexed
- "Test results confounded the experts." -- surprised and confused
- "Do not confound confidence with correctness." -- mistake one thing for another
prove wrong, defeat, or frustrate
- "The test results confounded my theory." -- proved wrong
- "Their defense confounded our offense." -- defeated or frustrated
make worse
- "She confounded the problem by painting without sanding." -- made worse
- "The task is complicated by other confounding factors." -- making worse
an exclamation expressing anger or frustration
- "Confound it! Will I ever get this thing to work?"
- "I don't understand the confounded directions!"
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)