baffle

verb

1. (transitive)To confuse or perplex (someone) completely; to bewilder, to confound, to puzzle.

   “I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions.”

   “They were baffled as to how the confusion could have arisen.”

   “[T]he full, Entire knovvledge of it [the gospel] may be one Principal Part of our Felicity and Bleſſedneſs hereafter. All thoſe Heights and Depths vvhich vve novv ſtand ſo much amazed at, and vvhich ſo confound and baffle the ſubtleſt and moſt Piercing Apprehenſion, ſhall then be made Clear, Open and Familiar to us.”

   “VVhen the Mind, by inſenſible degrees, has brought it ſelf to Attention and cloſe Thinking, it vvill be able to copie vvith Difficulties, and maſter them vvithout any Prejudice to it ſelf, and then it may go on roundly. Every abſtruſe Problem, every intricate Queſtion vvill not baffle, diſcourage or break it.”

2. (archaic, transitive)To defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil.

   “And ſhould the Parlament, endu'd vvith Legiſlative povver, make our Lavvs, and be after to diſpute them peice-meale vvith the reaſon, conſcience, humour, paſſion, fanſie, folly, obſtinacy, or other ends of one man, vvhoſe ſole vvord and vvill ſhall baffle and unmake vvhat all the vviſdom of a Parlement hath bin deliberatly framing, vvhat a ridiculous and contemptible thing a Parlament vvould ſoon be, […]”

   “It vvas the very Courſe vvhich our Saviour [Jesus] himſelf took, vvhen the Devil plied him vvith Temptation: Still he had a ſuitable Scripture ready to repel and baffle them all, one after another; every pertinent Text urged home being a direct Stab to a Temptation.”

   “It hath always been my way to baffle reproach with silence; though I cannot but observe the disingenuous proceedings of this gentleman, who is not content to asperse my writings, but hath wounded, through my sides, those eminent and worthy citizens, Mr. John Morphew, and Mr. Bernard Lintot.”

   “Chartophylax then obſerved hovv fatally human ſagacity vvas ſometimes baffled, and hovv often the moſt valuable diſcoveries are made by chance.”

   “The meek intelligence of thoſe dear eyes / (Bleſt be the art that can immortalize, / The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim / To quench it) here ſhines on me ſtill the ſame.”

3. (archaic, specifically, transitive)To defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil.

   “"She [the ship] behaves nobly," observed the captain, stepping aft to the binnacle, and looking at the compass; "if the wind does not baffle us, we shall weather."”

4. (transitive)To dampen, muffle, restrain, or otherwise control (a fluid, or waves travelling through a fluid such as light or sound).

   “Fleet ships encountering on the high seas / Who speak, and unto eternity diverge— / These hailed each other, poised on the loud surge / Of one of Mrs. Grundy's Tuesday teas, / Nor trimmed one sail to baffle the driving breeze.”

5. (obsolete, transitive)To deceive or hoodwink (someone); to gull.

   “[H]ee [the king] vvas never ſvvorn to his ovvn particular conſcience and reaſon, but to our conditions as a free people; vvhich requir'd him to give us ſuch Lavvs as our ſelves ſhall chooſe. This the Scots could bring him to, and vvould not be baffl'd vvith the pretence of a Coronation Oath, after that Epiſcopacy had for many yeares bin ſettl'd there.”

   “And yet they cry out ſacrilege, that men vvill not be gulld and baffl'd the tenth of thir eſtates by giving credit to frivolous pretences of divine right.”

   “[A]t laſt he vvas driven to confeſs the Truth, told the horrid Bargain he had made, and hovv the Devil often promis'd him a Covv, but never gave him one, except that ſeveral Times in the Morning early he found a Covv put into his Yard, but it alvvays prov'd to belong to ſome of his Neighbours: […] if he [the Devil] had not had a Mind to cheat or baffle the poor Man, vvhat need he have taken a Covv ſo near home?”

6. (obsolete, transitive)Followed by away or out: to deprive of (something) through cheating or manipulation; also (followed by out of), to deprive of something by cheating or manipulating (someone).

   “[T]he Lavv of God pardoning and unpardoning hath bin ſhamefully branded, for vvant of heed in gloſſing, to have eluded and baffl'd out, all Faith and chaſtity from the marriagebed of that holy ſeed, vvith politick and judicial adulteries.”

   “[A]ll VVriters of Ethics have uniformly declared no ſervility to be ſo ſordid and intolerable, as that of the vicious man to his Paſſions and Luſts. Top the latter, he confronts the miſcheif of being a ſlave to every man elſe; for ſuch he certainly is, vvhom the fear of ſuffering can baffle out of any thing he thinks juſt and honeſt.”

   “Parents vvill not be baffled out of their children by impudent gentlemen; nor is it fit they ſhould.”

7. (intransitive)To expend effort or struggle in vain.

   “The ship, baffling with the winds, moved not an inch.”

   “[He] let the Pandours baffle about, checked only by the fortified Towns, and more and more submerge the Hill Country.”

8. (intransitive, obsolete)To argue or complain in a petty or trivial manner; to quibble.

   “But if any one of thoſe ſharp arrovvs of divine truth vvhich are ſhot from heaven, vvhich thou haſt heard of, ſeen, and received into thy breſt, vvhich thou canſt vvith no colour of reaſon deny, or repel, and vvhich vvith much adoe thou baffleſt and ſhuffleſt off to a kind of cavilling unbelief; I ſay, if but one of them had vvell fixed it ſelfe upon thy heart and conſcience, it vvould move thee to the ſpeedy thoughts and eſſays of repentance; […]”

   “Were it not strangely absurd and unhandsome to say, I cannot wait on God, because I must speak with a friend; […] [I]s it then just or seemly, by such comparisons to disparage his favor, by such pretences to baffle with his goodness?”

9. (obsolete, transitive)To publicly disgrace (someone); specifically, a recreant knight.

   “And after all, for greater infamie, / He by the heeles him hung vpon a tree, / And baffuld ſo, that all vvhich paſſed by, / The picture of his puniſhment might ſee, / And by the like enſample vvarned bee, / Hovv euer they through treaſon doe treſpaſſe.”

   “Then have the coppies of it paſted on poſts, / Like Phamplet titles that ſue to be ſold; / Have his diſgrace talk for Tobacco ſhops, / His picture bafful'd.”

   “'Tis, they ſay, a Maxim among the Svvordsmen, That he that has once been baffled, is ever after an incompetent Challenger: […]”

   “After this Antiochus remembring hovv often he had been baffled and diſgraced by Simon, the Father of Hyrcanus, reſolved novv to be revenged on the Son; […]”

10. (obsolete, transitive)To treat (someone) with contempt; to disgrace; also, to speak of (someone or something) in contemptuous terms; to speak ill of, to vilify.

    “Should we (as you) borrow all out of others, and gather nothing of our selues, our names would be baffuld on euerie booke-sellers stall, and not a chandler's mustard-pot would wipe his mouth with our wast paper.”

    “A Religion, that baffoules all temporall Princes, making them ſtand bare-foote at their great Biſhops gate, lye at his foote, holde his ſtirrup, yea their ovvne Crovvnes at his Curteſie, exempting all their Eccleſiaſticall Subiects from their iuriſdiction, and (vvhen they liſt) all the reſt from their allegeance.”

    “[U]nder colour of ſome particular Author that does not pleaſe you, you run dovvn and baffle that ſerious buſineſs of Regeneration, Juſtification, Sanctification, Election, Vocation, Adoption, vvhich the Apoſtle Paul hath, beſide others, vvith ſo much labour illuſtrated and diſtinguiſh'd; […]”

    “I muſt reſolve to fight this confounded Beau, vvill tell all the Tovvn, vvhat Men he baffles, as vvell as vvhat VVomen he lies vvith.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A device used to dampen, muffle, restrain, or otherwise control the movement of a fluid, or waves travelling through a fluid such as light or sound; specifically, a surface positioned inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one place to another without preventing motion altogether.

   “Tanker trucks use baffles to keep the liquids inside from sloshing around.”

2. (US, countable, dialectal, uncountable)A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.
3. (countable, uncountable)A device to prevent the spreading of sound or light.

   “sound baffle”

   “At Hackney Downs, the sun baffle and overhanging eaves completely shade the signal room from direct sunlight, and the whole of the sky down to the horizon is hidden from the signalman's view.”

4. (countable, uncountable)A barrier designed to obstruct and confuse enemies, rendering them vulnerable.
5. (countable, obsolete)An argument or objection based on an ambiguity of wording or similar trivial circumstance; a minor complaint; a quibble.

   “As to Nonplus an Ariſtotle vvould look, not only like a Slur to a particular Philoſopher, but like a Baffle to Philoſophy it ſelf.”

6. (obsolete, transitive, uncountable)Intentional insult; affront; also, disgrace; (countable) an instance of this.

   “Novv that you intend to trail a Pike, and make Profeſſion of Arms, let me give you this Caveat, that nothing muſt be more precious to you than your Reputation. […] If you get but once handſomely off, you are made ever after; for you vvill be free from all Baffles and Affronts.”