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baffling

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baffling


  3  definitions  found 
 
  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]: 
 
  Baffling  \Baf"fling\  (b[a^]f"fl[i^]ng),  a. 
  Frustrating;  discomfiting;  disconcerting;  as  baffling 
  currents,  winds,  tasks.  --  {Baff"ling*ly},  adv  -- 
  {Baff"ling*ness},  n. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  baffling 
  adj  :  making  great  mental  demands;  hard  to  comprehend  or  solve;  "a 
  baffling  problem";  "I  faced  the  knotty  problem  of  what 
  to  have  for  breakfast";  "a  problematic  situation  at 
  home"  [syn:  {knotty},  {problematic},  {problematical}] 




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