| 释义 |
confusion|kənˈfjuːʒən|
Also 4 -syun, -syoun, -zion, 4–6 -sioun(e, 5 -syone, Sc. -syown, 5–6 -syon, 6 -cion.
[ME. a. OF. confusion (11th c.):—L. confūsiōn-em, n. of action from confundĕre to confound. Used in Eng. as n. of action and condition for both confound and confuse.]
1. Discomfiture, overthrow, ruin, destruction, perdition. ? Obs.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 195 Do þov þin owene confusion. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1747 Seþþe, wonede þere a dragun, þat dede many man confusyun. 1375Barbour Bruce v. 656 Had thai nocht beyn full of tresoune Bot that maid thair confusioune. 1494Fabyan v. cxvi. 90 Fredegunde..soughte many vnlefull meanes howe she myght brynge to confusyon the thyrde sone of hir husbonde. 1548Hall Chron. 14 b, Kynge Richarde percevyng them armed, knewe well that they came to his confusion. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. v. 29 As by the strength of their illusion, Shall draw him on to his Confusion. 1611Bible Isa. xxxiv. 11 He shall stretch out vpon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptinesse. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 996 With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded. 1757Gray Bard i. i, Ruin seize thee, ruthless King! Confusion on thy banners wait. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. i. iii. 30 The slavery of Greece, and..the confusion and slavery of Athens too.
b. A cause of overthrow or ruin. (Cf. ruin.)
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1365 Hips. & Medea, Thow sly deuourere & confusioun Of tendere wemen. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 108 How he being the sonne of a Christian..should so wickedly become the confusion of his brethren.
c. as an imprecation or exclamation. (Cf. confound 2.)
1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 97 Vengeance, Plague, Death, Confusion! 1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man v, Death! what's here?.. What can all this mean?.. Confusion! 1820Byron Mar. Fal. iv. ii. 229 Confusion! Stand to your arms. 1842S. Lover H. Andy iii, Drinking confusion to Handy Andy.
2. Mental discomfiture, putting to shame.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 5299 He sal shew, to þair confusioun, Alle þe signes of his passioun. c1350E.E. Psalter (E.E.T.S.) xliii[i]. 17 Confusion of my face haþ couered me. 1393Gower Conf. I. 146 To sete some conclusion, Which shulde be confusion Unto this knight. c1440Promp. Parv. 90 Confusyone or schame, confusio. 1535Coverdale Ps. xxx[i]. i, In the, O Lorde, is my trust: let me neuer be put to confucion [1611 ashamed]. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxi. 248 There will be nothing left you but a dreadfull confusion to humble you. a1831A. Knox Rem. (1844) I. 65 They would find, to their confusion, that Gregory..was, what they..would call a Methodist.
†b. Overthrow or discomfiture in argument; confutation. Obs.
1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye 312 To strength of oure faythe, and to confusyon of heretykes. a1555Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 247 Is this a sufficient confusion of purgatory.
3. Mental perturbation or agitation such as prevents the full command of the faculties; embarrassment, perplexity, fluttered condition.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 179 Maddam, you haue bereft me of all words..And there is such confusion in my powers. 1602― Ham. iii. i. 2 And can you by no drift of circumstance Get from him why he puts on this confusion. 1611Heywood Gold. Age iii. Wks. 1874 III. 42 What Monarch wrapt in my confusions Can tell what patience meanes? 1728Chetwood Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 226 The Sight of me, I observ'd, gave the Woman some Confusion. 1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man iii, You amaze me. How shall I conceal my confusion? 1874L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. ii. 62 Suffering under a revulsion of outraged modesty, and sweet confusions.
4. The action of confounding, confusing, or throwing into disorder: spec. in reference to the ‘confusion of tongues’ at the tower of Babel.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 21 Þe grete Babilon, whare þe confusion of tunges was made. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. 20 In this tyme was the Toure of Confusion mad. 1555Eden Decades Pref. (Arb.) 53 Attemptynge lyke an other Nemroth to buylde a newe towre of confusion. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §8 The first great judgement of God upon the ambition of man was the confusion of tongues. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 62 Thus was the building left Ridiculous, and the work Confusion nam'd. 1668Wilkins Real Char. A ij b, The Curse of the Confusion, with all the unhappy consequences of it.
5. A confused or disordered condition; disorder.
c1540Pilgrim's Tale 224 in Thynne Animadv. App. 83 For there ruell is but confucion. 1576Fleming Panop. Epist. 91 In beholding desolate disorder and confusion. 1634Documents agst. Prynne (1877) 18 Forme or order in his booke there is not any, it is all full of confusion. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 830 The diff'ring Species in Confusion lye. 1772Sheridan in Sheridaniana (1826) 39 The house was in such confusion it was impossible for him to go in. 1815Wellington in Gurw. Disp. XII. 482 The enemy..fled in the utmost confusion. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 269 The meeting broke up in confusion.
b. In reference to ideas, notions, etc.
1530Palsgr. 354 That rule holdeth nat, for it shoulde engendre to moche confusyon. 1538Starkey England i. iv. 135 Thes Lutheranys, wych are fallen into many errorys and gret confusyon. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. i. i. 87 Both of which are equally productive of confusion. 1845Polson in Encycl. Metrop. 732/1 The whole question is involved in much confusion. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma ii, As we shall hereafter see, the confusion becomes worse confounded.
c. Confused condition of anything.
1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. xv. (1627) 199 A Synchesis, or a disordered confusion of their words. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xi. 190 This confusion of my thoughts kept me waking. 1875Jowett Plato V. 171 Out of intercourse with strangers there arises great confusion of manners.
d. with pl.
1635Shirley Coronat. ii. 303, I am circled with confusions, I'll do somewhat. 1722De Foe Plague (1756) 148 Among such Confusions as I saw them in. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Uses of Gt. Men Wks. (Bohn) I. 276 The geometer; the engineer; the musician..make an easy way for all, through unknown and impossible confusions.
e. quasi-concr. A confused assemblage of. (rare.)
1791E. Inchbald Simp. Story IV. x. 132 A confusion of persons assembling towards the apartment. 1835Sir J. Ross N.W. Pass. xxxix. 526 A confusion of piled blocks.
6. Tumult, excited and disorderly commotion.
b. Civil commotion or disorder.
1555Eden Decades 70 Leste shee shuld bee slayne in the confusion of the bataile. 1593Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. iii. §2 God is not a God of sedition and confusion. 1611Bible Acts xix. 29 And the whole citie was filled with confusion. 1791Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 21 The King..interfered to save Holland from confusion. 1883G. Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 5 A crowd had already gathered round him, and the confusion was beyond words.
c. pl. Disorders, commotions.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. v. 66 Peace ho for shame, confusions Cure liues not In these confusions. 1662Bk. Com. Prayer (1844) Pref., The late unhappy confusions. 1704Addison Italy 8 Amidst all the Confusions of Europe. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 273 Those confusions continued to rage without intermission till the year 1572.
7. Mixture in which the distinction of the elements is lost by fusion, blending, or intimate intermingling.
c1350E.E. Psalter 195 He is on in alle, nouȝt þurȝ confusion of substaunce, bot þurȝ onhede of persone. 1549(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Ath. Creed, One altogether, not by confusion of substaunce: but by vnitie of person. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 405 In the case of confusion of goods, where those of two persons are so intermixed, that the several portions can be no longer distinguished. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 114 Without any change, confusion, or mixture of the two natures.
†b. Fusion together. Obs. rare.
1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 269 Confusion is properly a mixture of such liquid things as are fluid, and of one and the same nature. 1651S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. iii. vii. (1670) 410 Perfect friendship, which is a very free, plain, and universal confusion of two souls..A confusion, not only a Conjunction, and joyning together.
8. The quality of being confused, indistinct, or obscure: said of objects of sensuous or mental attention.
1729Butler Serm. Pref. Wks. 1874 II. 7 Confusion and perplexity in writing is indeed without excuse. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty viii. 42 Confusion will be hereby avoided when the object is seen near.
9. The confounding or mistaking of one for another; failure to distinguish. Const. of (things), of one with another, between (things).
1771Burke Corr. (1844) I. 281 To prevent that confusion of distinct matters into which..I saw you inclined to run. 1862Ruskin Munera P. 29 The third error in the popular view is the confusion of Guardianship with Possession. 1885Clodd Myths & Dr. i. vi. 105 That confusion between names and things which marks all primitive thinking. |