Definition of "baffle"

baffle

/ˈbæfl̩/

verb
third-person singular simple present baffles, present participle baffling, simple past and past participle baffled
1. To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex.
  Quotations
  computations, so difficult as to have baffled, till a comparatively recent period, the most enlightened nations
  1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […]
  Every abstruse problem, every intricate question will not baffle, discourage or break it [the mind]
  a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706
2. (intransitive) To struggle in vain.
3. (now rare) To foil; to thwart.
  Quotations
  the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim
  1798, William Cowper, On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture
  a suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all
  1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727
  It may have been the failure of Christianity to emancipate itself from expiatory theories of moral responsibility, guilt, innocence, reward, punishment, and the rest of it, that baffled its intention of changing the world.
  1898, George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra
  So they had to search the world again for a sphinx. And still there was none. But they were not men that it is easy to baffle, and at last they found a sphinx in a desert at evening watching a ruined temple whose gods she had eaten hundreds of years ago when her hunger was on her.
  1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales
4. (obsolete) To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight.
  Quotations
  He by the heeles him hung upon a tree, / And baffuld so, that all which passed by / The picture of his punishment might see […].
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
5. (obsolete) To hoodwink or deceive (someone).
  Quotations
  pretences to baffle with his goodness
  a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). The Duty of Prayer”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831
noun
plural baffles
1. A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.
2. A barrier designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.
3. (US, dialect, coal mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.

Definition of "baffle"

baffle

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

noun