Flummox (Verb)

Definition 1: (Colloquial) To totally confuse, to confuse to the point of frustration.

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Usage 1: "Flummox" is hardly a word we proper speakers of English would use. It is a term originating in the musty dialects of Merry Old (England) that has assumed residence in the vocabularies of reporters. Its origin apparently flummoxed Dickens, who wrote in the Pickwick Papers in 1837 (xxxiii), "He'll be what the Italians call reg'larly flummoxed." In 1840 the Cambridge University Magazine printed, "So many of the men I know Were 'flummox'd' at the last great-go [the final examination at Oxford-Dr. Language]."

Suggested usage: Today's contributor (see below), himself a journalist, writes, "A volatile stock that changes without regard to market expectations, for example, leaves investors 'flummoxed', according to my newspaper and others like it. I have yet to hear a real-life investor complain of such a condition." Perhaps they are too flummoxed to comment. More likely this results from the fact that the term seldom strays beyond the pale of journalism.

Etymology: According to the OED, it is probably of dialectal origin; cf. flummocks "to maul, mangle," flummock "slovenly person," also "hurry, bewilderment," flummock "to make untidy, to confuse, bewilder" variously used in Hereford, Gloucester, S. Cheshire, and Sheffield. (We are happy that circumstances surrounding this word did not flummox Tom Iggulden of the Australian Financial Review to the point where he could not recommend it as today's Word of the Day.)

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