Adjacent Words

baffle definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or energy [syn: baffle, baffle board] v
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, baffle, 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, baffle, bilk]
3: check the emission of (sound) [syn: baffle, regulate]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (baffled; baffling) Etymology: probably alteration of Middle English (Scots) bawchillen to denounce, discredit publicly Date: 1675 1. to defeat or check (as a person) by confusing or puzzling ; disconcert 2. to check or break the force or flow of by or as if by a baffle Synonyms: see frustrate • bafflement noun • baffler noun • bafflingly adverb II. noun Date: 1881 a device (as a plate, wall, or screen) to deflect, check, or regulate flow or passage (as of a fluid, light, or sound) • baffled adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 confuse or perplex (a person, one's faculties, etc.). 2 a frustrate or hinder (plans etc.). b restrain or regulate the progress of (fluids, sounds, etc.). --n. (also baffle-plate) a device used to restrain the flow of fluid, gas, etc., through an opening, often found in microphones etc. to regulate the emission of sound. Phrases and idioms: baffle-board a device to prevent sound from spreading in different directions, esp. round a loudspeaker cone. Derivatives: bafflement n. baffling adj. bafflingly adv. Etymology: perh. rel. to F bafouer ridicule, OF beffer mock

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Baffle Baf"fle, n. 1. (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. 2. (Coal Mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. [Local, U. S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Baffle Baf"fle (b[a^]f"f'l), v. t. [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, n., 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Baffle Baf"fle, v. i. 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] --Barrow. 2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Baffle Baf"fle, n. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] ``A baffle to philosophy.'' --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(baffles, baffling, baffled) If something baffles you, you cannot understand it or explain it. An apple tree producing square fruit is baffling experts. = puzzle VERB: V n • baffling I was constantly ill, with a baffling array of symptoms. ADJ • baffled Police are baffled by the murder. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Frustrate, foil, balk, thwart, defeat, mar, upset, check, neutralize, checkmate, undermine, circumvent. 2. Confound, bewilder, perplex, disconcert, out-general, out-manoeuvre.

Moby Thesaurus

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