DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
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·fling a. Frustrating; discomfiting; disconcerting; as, baffling currents, winds, tasks. -- Baff*ling*ly, adv. -- Baff*ling*ness, n.
◄ ►
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]