kerflummox, kerflumix

vb

to baffle, confuse, bamboozle. A humor-ous embellishment of the colloquial 'flummox'. Ker- is a prefix indicating force, effort or impulse, reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon and modern German ge-: 'made'.

► 'After all their explanations I've got to say I'm totally kerflummoxed.' (Recorded, US diplomat's wife, London, 1988)