baf·fle /ˈbæfəl/
 (vt.)困惑,為難,使挫折(vi.)徒作掙扎迷惑,擋板


 baffle
 檔板


 Baf·fle v. t. [imp. & p. p. Baffled (-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Baffling ]
 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.”
    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.


 Baf·fle, v. i.
 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.]
 2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.]


 Baf·fle, n.
 1. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] “A baffle to philosophy.”
 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.
 2.  Coal Mining A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine. [Local, U. S.]

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 baffle
      n : a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or
          energy [syn: baffle board]
      v 1: be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I
           don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This
           question really stuck me" [syn: perplex, vex, stick,
            get, puzzle, mystify, beat, pose, bewilder,
            flummox, stupefy, nonplus, gravel, amaze, dumbfound]
      2: hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What
         ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing
         September surge"; "foil your opponent" [syn: thwart, queer,
          spoil, scotch, foil, cross, frustrate, bilk]
      3: check the emission of (sound) [syn: regulate]