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bamboozle

bam·boozle

UK/bæmˈbuː.zl̩/ US/bæmˈbu.zl̩/ uncommon informal obsolete

verb

1.

conceal one''s true motives from especially by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end

  • “He bamboozled his professors into thinking that he knew the subject well”

Origin

Derivative of 17th-century vernacular bam (“to trick, to con”), which is a derivative of bam in noun use (fraudster, cheat). Possibly from French embobiner.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.