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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\ (b[a^]f"f'l), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Baffled} (-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Baffling} (-fl[i^]ng).] [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. b[=a]gr uneasy, poor, or b[=a]gr, noun, struggle, b[ae]gja to push, treat harshly, OF. beffler, beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. b["a]ppe mouth, beffen to bark, chide.]
1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Obs.]
He by the heels him hung upon a tree, And baffled so, that all which passed by The picture of his punishment might see. --Spenser.
2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil.
The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim. --Cowper.
3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. ''A baffled purpose.'' --De Quincey.
A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. --South.
Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. --Prescott.
The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us. --Locke.
{Baffling wind} (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another.
Syn: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, verb (used without an object)
1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] --Barrow.
2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, noun
1. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] ''A baffle to philosophy.'' --South.
2. (Engin.) (a) A deflector, as a plate or wall, so arranged across a furnace or boiler flue as to mingle the hot gases and deflect them against the substance to be heated. (b) A grating or plate across a channel or pipe conveying water, gas, or the like, by which the flow is rendered more uniform in different parts of the cross section of the stream; -- used in measuring the rate of flow, as by means of a weir. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. (Coal Mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. [Local, U. S.] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
baffle
noun: a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or energy [syn: {baffle board}]
verb
1: be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This question really stuck me" [syn: {perplex}, {vex}, {stick}, {get}, {puzzle}, {mystify}, {beat}, {pose}, {bewilder}, {flummox}, {stupefy}, {nonplus}, {gravel}, {amaze}, {dumbfound}]
2: hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent" [syn: {thwart}, {queer}, {spoil}, {scotch}, {foil}, {cross}, {frustrate}, {bilk}]
3: check the emission of (sound) [syn: {regulate}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
131 Moby Thesaurus words for "baffle": addle, amaze, babble, bafflement, balk, ball up, bamboozle, be Greek to, be beyond one, be too deep, beat, beat one, befuddle, bewilderment, bilk, blast, boggle, bother, brave, buffalo, cast down, challenge, checkmate, circumvent, confound, confoundment, confront, confuse, confusion, contravene, counter, counteract, countermand, counterwork, cross, cushion, damp, dampen, dash, daze, deaden, deafen, defeat, defeat expectation, defy, destroy, dilemma, disappoint, discomfit, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment, discountenance, dish, disillusion, disrupt, dissatisfy, disturbance, dull, dumbfound, elude, embarrass, embarrassment, enigma, escape one, faze, fix, floor, flummox, fog, foil, frustrate, fuddle, get, gibber, jam, keep in suspense, knock the chocks, let down, lick, lose one, maze, mix up, muddle, muffle, mute, mystery, mystify, need explanation, nonplus, not make sense, not penetrate, pass comprehension, perplex, perplexity, perturbation, pickle, plight, pother, predicament, problem, puzzle, puzzlement, quandary, rattle, riddle, ruin, sabotage, scotch, scrape, soft-pedal, soften, speak in tongues, spike, spoil, stew, stick, stonewall, stop, stump, subdue, talk double Dutch, tantalize, tease, throw, thwart, tone down, unassuredness, upset
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