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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]:
Baffling \Baf"fling\ (b[a^]f"fl[i^]ng), adjective Frustrating; discomfiting; disconcerting; as, baffling currents, winds, tasks. -- {Baff"ling*ly}, adverb -- {Baff"ling*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
baffling
adjective: making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home" [syn: {knotty}, {problematic}, {problematical}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
21 Moby Thesaurus words for "baffling": bewildering, bothering, confounding, confusing, defeating, discomposing, disconcerting, dismaying, distracting, disturbing, embarrassing, enigmatic, frustrating, intricate, mysterious, mystifying, perplexing, perturbing, problematic, puzzling, upsetting
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |