From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
bamboozle
v : 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" [syn: snow, hoodwink, {pull the wool
over someone's eyes}, lead by the nose, play false]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bamboozle \Bam*boo"zle\ (b[a^]m*b[=oo]"z'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Bamboozled (b[a^]m*b[=oo]"z'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Bamboozling (b[a^]m*b[=oo]"zl[i^]ng).] [Said to be of Gipsy
origin.]
To deceive by trickery; to cajole by confusing the senses; to
hoax; to mystify; to humbug. [Colloq.] --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
What oriental tomfoolery is bamboozling you? --J. H.
Newman.
[1913 Webster]