baffl

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Baffled (-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Baffling ] [ Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. bāgr uneasy, poor, or bāgr, n., struggle, bægja to push, treat harshly, OF. beffler, beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. bäppe mouth, beffen to bark, chide. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. [ 1913 Webster ]

The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. “A baffled purpose.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat. [ 1913 Webster ]