Baf"fle (băf"f'l), v. t. [imp.
& p. p. Baffled (-f'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Baffling (-fl&ibreve;ng).] [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to
treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel.
bāgr uneasy, poor, or bāgr, n., struggle,
bægja to push, treat harshly, OF. beffler,
beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. bäppe 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. "A baffled purpose." 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.
Baf"fle, v. i. 1. To
practice deceit. [Obs.] Barrow.
2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship
baffles with the winds. [R.]
Baf"fle, n. A defeat by artifice,
shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] "A baffle to
philosophy." South.
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.]
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.]
