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 ]

v. i. 1. To practice deceit. [ Obs. ] Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [ R. ] “A baffle to philosophy.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Coal Mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. [ Local, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. not understanding.
Syn. -- uncomprehending. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. discouraged by failure to accomplish a goal and uncertain how to proceed; -- used especially of feelings of defeat and discouragement.
Syn. -- balked, discomfited, discouraged, frustrated. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The process or act of baffling, or of being baffled; frustration; check.

n. One who, or that which, baffles. [ 1913 Webster ]