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baffle

[baf-uhl]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object)

to confuse, bewilder, or perplex: He was baffled by the technical language of the instructions.

to frustrate or confound; thwart by creating confusion or bewilderment.

to check or deflect the movement of (sound, light, fluids, etc.).

to equip with a baffle or baffles.

Obsolete. to cheat; trick.

verb (used without object)

to struggle ineffectually, as a ship in a gale.

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Baffle is one of our favorite verbs.

So is lollygag. Does it mean:

to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

to spend time idly; loaf.

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noun

something that balks, checks, or deflects.

an artificial obstruction for checking or deflecting the flow of gases (as in a boiler), sounds (as in the loudspeaker system of a radio or hi-fi set), light (as in a darkroom), etc.

any boxlike enclosure or flat panel for mounting a loudspeaker.

Origin:
1540–50; 1910–15 for def. 8; perhaps < Scots bauchle to disgrace, treat with contempt, equivalent to bauch (see baff) + -le

Related forms

baf·fle·ment, noun

baf·fler, noun

baf·fling, adjective

baf·fling·ly, adverb

baf·fling·ness, noun

EXPAND

un·baf·fled, adjective

un·baf·fling, adjective

un·baf·fling·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. See thwart.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To baffle

Example Sentences

The birds and bees are up to mischief and the other orders of creation baffle imagination.

Eros is notorious for its power to thwart our better judgment and to baffle the rational mind.

States have a rich hoard, seemingly arranged to baffle scholars and victims seeking evidence.

EXPAND

The birds and bees are up to mischief and the other orders of creation baffle imagination.

Eros is notorious for its power to thwart our better judgment and to baffle the rational mind.

States have a rich hoard, seemingly arranged to baffle scholars and victims seeking evidence.

Dark matter, the substance no one has ever seen, continues to baffle cosmologists.

To baffle opponents, grandmasters create new, unexpected openings not found in chess literature.

Nice people and their respectable ways of living continue to confuse his wicked plans and baffle his waggish companions.

Economic statistics bemuse and baffle in equal measure.

No need for all the high brow long terminology baffle science too.

Many other common computer-age terms can baffle these programs.

Yet despite the country's remarkable transformation, it can still baffle foreign investors.

Giulini would deliver philosophical discourses about the music that would baffle his players.

The first effect was to baffle and dismay the financial markets.

Even with the power of antibiotics, strep infections continue to baffle physicians.

The process baffled me then and continues to baffle me today.

What continues to baffle me is why anybody would ever have a trading account with these houses.

The ever multiplying list of special rights for learning disabilities students is really beginning to baffle me.

Then the lawmakers enact procedural obstacle courses calculated to baffle the best of lawyers.

I've done a little research, but some things still baffle me a bit.

It may baffle anyone coming upon him for the first time.

Some are clear and specific, but others might baffle people unversed in the language of academic administrators.

But they can be useful in understanding personal and social foibles that otherwise might baffle and tyrannize.

The secret is the second garbage can lid which acts as a baffle.

The context is guaranteed to baffle and benumb citizens.

The sound world and the body language are full of conjunctions that baffle even while they excite.

How thalidomide deforms limbs has continued to baffle scientists.

If they are of questionable hardiness, a wind baffle would help, but never wrap evergreens in a tight bundle.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

baffle (ˈbæf^əl)

—vb
1.	to perplex; bewilder; puzzle
2.	to frustrate (plans, efforts, etc)
3.	to check, restrain, or regulate (the flow of a fluid or the emission of sound or light)
4.	to provide with a baffle
5.	obsolete to cheat or trick

—n
6.	baffle board, Also called: baffle plate a plate or mechanical device designed to restrain or regulate the flow of a fluid, the emission of light or sound, or the distribution of sound, esp in a loudspeaker or microphone

[C16: perhaps from Scottish dialect bachlen to condemn publicly; perhaps related to French bafouer to disgrace]

'bafflement

—n

'baffler

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

baffle

1540s, "to disgrace," perhaps a Scottish respelling of bauchle "to disgrace publicly" (especially a perjured knight), which is probably related to Fr. bafouer "to abuse, hoodwink" (16c.), possibly from baf, a natural sound of disgust, like bah (cf. Ger. baff machen "to flabbergast"). Meaning "to bewilder,

EXPAND

confuse" is from 1640s; that of "to defeat someone's efforts" is from 1675. The noun sense of "shielding device" is first recorded 1881. Related: Baffled "confounded" (1650s); bafflement (1841).

COLLAPSE

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"The secret lies, I think, in his intimate knowledge of the people he is addressing be they black or white, and in the forthrightness with which he speaks of those things which hurt and baffle them.... He allows them their self-respect—indeed, he insists on it."

-James Baldwin

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