Noun
a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or energy

Verb
check the emission of (sound)

Verb
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"

Verb
hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth''s amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent"

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v. t.
To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight.

v. t.
To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil.

v. t.
To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart.

v. i.
To practice deceit.

v. i.
To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds.

n.
A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture.

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Baffle

Baf"fle , v. i. [imp. & p. p. Baffled (); p. pr. & vb. n. Baffling .] [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. b'begr uneasy, poor, or b'begr, n., struggle, b'91gja to push, treat harshly, OF. beffler, beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. b'84ppe 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.

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." De Quincey.

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. Syn. -- To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat.

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.]

Baffle

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

To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight.

To practice deceit.

A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture.