Citations:baffle

English citations of baffle

					1851	1969
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

Etymology 1

Verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To confuse or perplex (someone) completely; to bewilder, to confound, to puzzle. [from 17th c.]
      • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Chase—Second Day”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 621:

        There's a riddle now might baffle all the lawyers backed by the ghosts of the whole line of judges:—like a hawk's beak it pecks my brain.

   2. (technology) To muffle, restrain, or otherwise control (a fluid, or waves travelling through a fluid such as sound).
      • 1924 August, John Crowe Ransom, “Good Ships”, in Chills and Fever: Poems, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 54:

        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.