Confound (konfound), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Confounded; p. pr. & vb. n. Confounding.] [F. confondre, fr. L. confundere, -fusum, to pour together; con- + fundere to pour. See Fuse to melt, and cf. Confuse.]
1. To mingle and blend, so that different elements can not be distinguished; to confuse.
They who strip not ideas from the marks men use for them, but confound them with words, must have endless dispute. Locke.
Let us go down, and there confound their language. Gen. xi. 7.
2. To mistake for another; to identify falsely.
9 more senses
They [the tinkers] were generally vagrants and pilferers, and were often confounded with the gypsies. Macaulay.
3. To throw into confusion or disorder; to perplex; to strike with amazement; to dismay.
The gods confound... The Athenians both within and out that wall. Shak.
They trusted in thee and were not confounded. Ps. xxii. 5.
So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood A while as mute, confounded what to say. Milton.
4. To destroy; to ruin; to waste. [Obs.]
One man's lust these many lives confounds. Shak.
How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour Shak.
Syn. -- To abash; confuse; baffle; dismay; astonish; defeat; terrify; mix; blend; intermingle. See Abash.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for confound; he lists it under abash, refute.
Where he writes about it:
"I might have been abashed by their authority." GLADSTONE Homeric Synchron., p. 72. [H. '76.] To confuse is to bring into a state of mental bewilderment; to confound is to overwhelm the mental faculties; to daunt is to subject to a certain degree of fear. — from abash