different between foist vs bamboozle

English

Etymology 1

Probably from archaic Dutch vuisten (“to take into one’s hand”), from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst (“fist”); akin to Old English fyst (“fist”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /f??st/

Verb

foist (third-person singular simple present foists, present participle foisting, simple past and past participle foisted)

1. (transitive) To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.
   • 2006, Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language

     attempts to foist alleged grammatical “correctness” on native speakers of an “incorrect” dialect are nothing but the unacknowledged and oppressive exercise of social control
2. (transitive) To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit.
3. (transitive) To pass off as genuine or worthy.
   • 1969, Jonathan Spivak, "Competitive Problems in the Drug Industry" in The Wall Street Journal

     foist costly and valueless products on the public

Synonyms

• fob off
• pass off
• pawn off
• palm off

Translations

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (historical slang) A thief or pickpocket.
   • 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society 2006, p. 54:

     The foist had lately arrived form the country and was known to be doing a thriving trade in and around Westminster Hall where many country folk and others came to see lawyers.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:pickpocket

Etymology 2

From Old French fuste (“stick, boat”), from Latin fustis (“cudgel”).

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (obsolete) A light and fast-sailing ship.

   • These are mad boys, I tell you; these are things That will not strike their top-sails to a foist,
     And let a man of war, an argosy, Hull and cry cockles.

Etymology 3

From Old French fust (whence also French fût), from Latin fustis.

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (obsolete) A cask for wine.
2. Fustiness; mustiness.

Derived terms

• foisty

References

• “foist”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

Anagrams

• Fotis, tifos

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæm.?bu?.z?l/

Verb

bamboozle (third-person singular simple present bamboozles, present participle bamboozling, simple past and past participle bamboozled)

1. (transitive, informal) To con, defraud, trick, to make a fool of, to humbug or impose on someone.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 19

     “Look here, friend,” said I, “if you have anything important to tell us, out with it; but if you are only trying to bamboozle us, you are mistaken in your game; that’s all I have to say.”

2. (transitive, informal) To confuse, frustrate or perplex.

   He's completely bamboozled by the changes in the computer system.

Translations

Derived terms

Noun

bamboozle (plural bamboozles)

1. (obsolete, informal) A cheat, hoax, or imposition.