BAFFLES

Noun

baffles

plural of baffle

Source: Wiktionary


BAFFLE

Baf"fle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Baffled (p. pr. & vb. n. Baffling (.] Etym: [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. bagr uneasy, poor, or bagr, 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.

Definition: A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] "A baffle to philosophy." South.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

6 June 2025

PUNGENCY

(noun) wit having a sharp and caustic quality; “he commented with typical pungency”; “the bite of satire”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the largest coffee press is 230 cm (7 ft 6 in) in height and 72 cm (2 ft 4 in) in diameter and was created by Salzillo Tea and Coffee (Spain) in Murcia, Spain, in February 2007. The cafetière consists of a stainless steel container, a filtering piston, and a superior lid.

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