From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
baffle
n : a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or
energy [syn: 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, 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,
bilk]
3: check the emission of (sound) [syn: regulate]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, v. i.
1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] --Barrow.
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2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the
winds. [R.]
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, n.
1. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture.
[R.] "A baffle to philosophy." --South.
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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.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. (Coal Mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of
a winding engine. [Local, U. S.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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[aum]ppe mouth,
beffen to bark, chide.]
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1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a
recreant knight. [Obs.]
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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.
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2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil.
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The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim.
--Cowper.
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3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or
defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." --De Quincey.
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A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them
all. --South.
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Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until
within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened
nations. --Prescott.
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The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle
us. --Locke.
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Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one
point to another.
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Syn: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat.
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