baffle : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: baffle	by the DICT Development Group
5 results for baffle
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
baffle n a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or energy Synonym(s): baffle, baffle board v 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" Synonym(s): perplex, vex, stick, get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose, bewilder, flummox, stupefy, nonplus, gravel, amaze, dumbfound hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent" Synonym(s): thwart, queer, spoil, scotch, foil, cross, frustrate, baffle, bilk check the emission of (sound) Synonym(s): baffle, regulate
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, n. 1. (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.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, v. i. 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] --Barrow. 2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\, n. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] [bd]A baffle to philosophy.[b8] --South.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Baffle \Baf"fle\ (b[acr]f"f'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Baffled} (-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Baffling} (-fl[icr]ng).] [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. b[be]gr uneasy, poor, or b[be]gr, n., struggle, b[91]gja to push, treat harshly, OF. beffler, beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. b[84]ppe mouth, beffen to bark, chide.] 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. [bd]A baffled purpose.[b8] --De Quincey. 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.