(transitive, now rare) To show (something or someone) to be false or wrong; to disprove or refute.
Exempel
Procatalepsis is a forme of speech by which the Orator perceiving aforehand what might be objected against him, and hurt him, doth confute it before it be spoken [...].
bad books [...] to a discreet and judicious Reader serve in many respects to discover, to confute, to forewarn, and to illustrate.