baffle
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Origin uncertain. Perhaps related to French bafouer (“to scorn”) or obsolete French befer (“to mock”),[1] via Scots bauchle (“to disgrace”).[2]
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
baffle (third-person singular simple present baffles, present participle baffling, simple past and past participle baffled)
- To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex. [from 17th c.]
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:confuse
- I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions.
- 1843, William H. Prescott, The History of the Conquest of Mexico
- computations, so difficult as to have baffled, till a comparatively recent period, the most enlightened nations
- a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, OCLC 6963663:
- Every abstruse problem, every intricate question will not baffle, discourage or break it [the mind]
- (intransitive) To struggle in vain. [from 19th c.]
- A ship baffles with the winds.
- (now rare) To foil; to thwart. [from 17th c.]
- 1798, William Cowper, On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture
- the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, OCLC 21766567:
- a suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all
- 1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales
- So they had to search the world again for a sphinx. And still there was none. But they were not men that it is easy to baffle, and at last they found a sphinx in a desert at evening watching a ruined temple whose gods she had eaten hundreds of years ago when her hunger was on her.
- 1798, William Cowper, On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture
- (obsolete) To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight. [16th-17th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book 6, canto 7:
- He by the heeles him hung upon a tree, / And baffuld so, that all which passed by / The picture of his punishment might see […].
- (obsolete) To hoodwink or deceive (someone). [16th-18th c.]
- a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Duty of Prayer (sermon):
- pretences to baffle with his goodness
Collocations[edit]
(bewilder):
- to be baffled as to why/how (something happened)
Translations[edit]
to totally bewilder; confuse or perplex
Derived terms[edit]
Noun[edit]
baffle (plural baffles)
- A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.
- Tanker trucks use baffles to keep the liquids inside from sloshing around.
- An architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.
- (US, dialect, coal mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]
regulating device
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Further reading[edit]
- “baffle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
References[edit]
- ^ “baffle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “baffle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
baffle m or f (plural baffles)
- speaker (audio)
- Synonym: haut-parleur
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