Bāf'fle1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. BAFFLED; p. pr. & vb. n. BAFFLING.] [O. Fr. beffer, beffer, Sp. befar, O. Sp. bafar, It. beffare, to mock, deceive, O. Fr. beffe, Pr. bafa, mockery, from Prov. Ger. baffen, büffen, to bark, chide, M. D. baffen.]
Sense 1. To treat with infamy or mockery; to disgrace; to insult with blows. [Obs.]
An I do not, call me villain and baffle me. Shak.
There know I dare To spurn or baffle them. B. Jonson.
Sense 2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil.
The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim. Cowper.
Sense 3. To check by perplexing; to frustrate or defeat. “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 comparatively 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.
Synonyms—To BAFFLE, FRUSTRATE, DEFEAT. We speak of a person or thing as baffled by any thing that serves to cross or check by interruption or artifice; as, baffled in one's attempts, designs, plans, &c. We use frustrated in such cases when an effectual stop is put, at least for a time, to all further progress; as, he was frustrated in all his efforts. We use the word defeat when the frustration is absolute and final, as, the army was defeated in a pitched battle; he was defeated in argument.
I could not live To see your hopes made frustrate. Massinger.
His designs were defeated, his desires thwarted, his offers refused. Barron.