Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Baffle
Baf′fle
(băf′f’l)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Baffled
(-f’ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Baffling
(-flĭng)
.] [Cf. Lowland Scotch
bauchle
to treat contemptuously, bauch
tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. bāgr
uneasy, poor, or bāgr
, n., struggle, bægja
to push, treat harshly, OF. beffler
, beffer
, to mock, deceive, dial. G. bäppe
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
The picture of his punishment might see.
And
baffled
so, that all which passed byThe 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.
Baf′fle
,Verb.
I.
1.
To practice deceit.
[Obs.]
Barrow.
2.
To struggle against in vain;
as, a ship
. baffles
with the winds[R.]
Baf′fle
,Noun.
1.
A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture.
[R.]
“A baffle to philosophy.” South.