Hypertext Webster Gateway: "baffle"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Baffle \Baf"fle\, n.
A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.]
``A baffle to philosophy.'' --South.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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!" [syn: {perplex}, {get}, {puzzle},
{mystify}, {beat}, {bewilder}, {flummox}, {stupefy}, {stupify},
{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}]
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