Word: baffle Part of Speech: verb Etymology: The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly: * from French bafouer, baffoüer (“to abuse, revile; to confuse, baffle; to deceive; to flout; to scorn”), imitative of someone making a disdainful sound by expelling air quickly through pouted lips (compare Occitan baf (interjection expressing disdain)); or * from French befer, beffer, beffler (“(obsolete) to deceive; to mock, ridicule”) (compare Old French befe, beffe, buffe (“deception; mockery”); beferie (“deceit; quibbling”)), possibly from bafouer: see above. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * Italian beffare (“(verb) to deride, mock”), beffa (“(noun) banter; mockery”) * Occitan bafar (“(verb) to deride, mock”), bafa (“(noun) banter; mockery”) * Old Spanish bafa (modern Spanish befa (“(noun) banter; mockery”)) * Spanish befar (“(verb) to deride, mock”) Pronunciation: /ˈbæfl̩/, /ˈbæf(ə)l/ 1. To confuse or perplex (someone) completely; to bewilder, to confound, to puzzle. Labels: transitive Example: I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions. Example: They were baffled as to how the confusion could have arisen. 2. To defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil. Labels: archaic, transitive Example: And ſhould the Parlament, endu'd vvith Legiſlative povver, make our Lavvs, and be after to diſpute them peice-meale vvith the reaſon, conſcience, humour, paſſion, fanſie, folly, obſtinacy, or other ends of one man, vvhoſe ſole vvord and vvill ſhall baffle and unmake vvhat all the vviſdom of a Parlement hath bin deliberatly framing, vvhat a ridiculous and contemptible thing a Parlament vvould ſoon be, […] Example: It vvas the very Courſe vvhich our Saviour [Jesus] himſelf took, vvhen the Devil plied him vvith Temptation: Still he had a ſuitable Scripture ready to repel and baffle them all, one after another; every pertinent Text urged home being a direct Stab to a Temptation. 3. To defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil. Labels: archaic, specifically, transitive Example: "She [the ship] behaves nobly," observed the captain, stepping aft to the binnacle, and looking at the compass; "if the wind does not baffle us, we shall weather." 4. To dampen, muffle, restrain, or otherwise control (a fluid, or waves travelling through a fluid such as light or sound). Labels: transitive Example: 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. 5. To deceive or hoodwink (someone); to gull. Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: [H]ee [the king] vvas never ſvvorn to his ovvn particular conſcience and reaſon, but to our conditions as a free people; vvhich requir'd him to give us ſuch Lavvs as our ſelves ſhall chooſe. This the Scots could bring him to, and vvould not be baffl'd vvith the pretence of a Coronation Oath, after that Epiſcopacy had for many yeares bin ſettl'd there. Example: And yet they cry out ſacrilege, that men vvill not be gulld and baffl'd the tenth of thir eſtates by giving credit to frivolous pretences of divine right. 6. Followed by away or out: to deprive of (something) through cheating or manipulation; also (followed by out of), to deprive of something by cheating or manipulating (someone). Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: [T]he Lavv of God pardoning and unpardoning hath bin ſhamefully branded, for vvant of heed in gloſſing, to have eluded and baffl'd out, all Faith and chaſtity from the marriagebed of that holy ſeed, vvith politick and judicial adulteries. Example: [A]ll VVriters of Ethics have uniformly declared no ſervility to be ſo ſordid and intolerable, as that of the vicious man to his Paſſions and Luſts. Top the latter, he confronts the miſcheif of being a ſlave to every man elſe; for ſuch he certainly is, vvhom the fear of ſuffering can baffle out of any thing he thinks juſt and honeſt. 7. To expend effort or struggle in vain. Labels: intransitive Example: The ship, baffling with the winds, moved not an inch. Example: [He] let the Pandours baffle about, checked only by the fortified Towns, and more and more submerge the Hill Country. 8. To argue or complain in a petty or trivial manner; to quibble. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: But if any one of thoſe ſharp arrovvs of divine truth vvhich are ſhot from heaven, vvhich thou haſt heard of, ſeen, and received into thy breſt, vvhich thou canſt vvith no colour of reaſon deny, or repel, and vvhich vvith much adoe thou baffleſt and ſhuffleſt off to a kind of cavilling unbelief; I ſay, if but one of them had vvell fixed it ſelfe upon thy heart and conſcience, it vvould move thee to the ſpeedy thoughts and eſſays of repentance; […] Example: Were it not strangely absurd and unhandsome to say, I cannot wait on God, because I must speak with a friend; […] [I]s it then just or seemly, by such comparisons to disparage his favor, by such pretences to baffle with his goodness?