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Baffle   /bˈæfəl/   Listen
noun
Baffle  n.  
1.
A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. (R.) "A baffle to philosophy."
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.
3.
(Coal Mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. (Local, U. S.)


verb
Baffle  v. t.  (past & past part. baffled; pres. part. baffling)  
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."
2.
To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. "The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim."
3.
To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." "A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all." "Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a... recent period, the most enlightened nations." "The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us."
Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another.
Synonyms: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat.


Baffle  v. i.  
1.
To practice deceit. (Obs.)
2.
To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. (R.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Baffle" Quotes from Famous Books



... by the side of a roaring torrent, he built himself a house of iron and stone, and placed a door on each of its four sides, so that he could see whatever passed around him. There, for many winters, he lived in lonely solitude, planning with himself how he might baffle the gods, and regain his old place in Asgard. And now and then he slipped slyly away from his hiding-place, and wrought much mischief for a time among the abodes of men. But when Thor heard of his evil-doings, and sought to catch him, ...
— The Story of Siegfried • James Baldwin
... contradictions in the Indian character which baffle explanation. In spite of the almost universal moral laxity in the conversation and personal life of a Hindu, any English lady could travel in perfect safety through the length and breadth of the land, in city or in jungle, with no other attendants than her heathen Indian servants. ...
— India and the Indians • Edward F. Elwin
... invested and overpowered by the flood, were able by the valour and more by the craft of their princes, first to stem the tide, then to force it back, and in the end to rear such bulwarks as might for ever baffle its fury, and prevent its ...
— Russia - As Seen and Described by Famous Writers • Various
... mind as his heart. "Catholicism," he was wont say, "is the most ancient of worships; and as for our own heresy, it unquestionably had its origin in vice. With regard to those difficulties which baffle our understanding, are they more easily explained ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli
... probably one or two were 'cuts'—e.g. Emilia's long speech (k). The omission of (i) might be due to the state of the MS.: the words of the song may have been left out of the dialogue, as appearing on a separate page with the musical notes, or may have been inserted in such an illegible way as to baffle the printer. ...
— Shakespearean Tragedy - Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth • A. C. Bradley


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