Hypertext Webster Gateway: "baffled"

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 WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

baffled
adj 1: perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements;
filled with bewilderment; "obviously bemused by his
questions"; "bewildered and confused"; "a cloudy and
confounded philosopher"; "just a mixed-up kid"; "she
felt lost on the first day of school" [syn: {befuddled},
{bemused}, {bewildered}, {confounded}, {confused}, {lost},
{mazed}, {mixed-up}, {at sea}]
2: used especially of feelings of defeat and discouragement
[syn: {balked}, {discouraged}, {frustrated}]
n : people who are frustrated and perplexed; "the children's
faces clearly expressed the frustration of the baffled"


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