Dwimmer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A dazed, stupefied condition in which a person's mind seems to wander and their wits feel dulled
2. The bewildered state of someone who has lost their bearings and is half-stunned or confused
3. Dullness of mind or senses, as when a person is stupefied, giddy or temporarily unable to think clearly

Etymology: "Dwimmer" is a word that has largely vanished from everyday English, but its ancestor in Old English named something close to witchcraft: an illusion, a delusion, a magical trick or sleight. The Old English forms "ġedwimor" and "dwimor" carried this sense of deception produced by magic, and the word passed into Middle English as "dwimmer" with the same meaning intact. What makes the story notable is how little the meaning drifted. The word began and remained tied to the idea of being fooled by something unreal, so a person who fell under a dwimmer was seeing or believing something that was not there. Its sense stayed close to its earliest attested use, rather than shifting toward a neighbouring idea as many old words did.