baffle

To confuse or perplex (someone) completely; to bewilder, to confound, to puzzle.

I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions.

They were baffled as to how the confusion could have arisen.

To defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil.

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, […]

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.

To defeat, frustrate, or thwart (someone or their efforts, plans, etc.); to confound, to foil.

"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."

To dampen, muffle, restrain, or otherwise control (a fluid, or waves travelling through a fluid such as light or sound).

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.

To deceive or hoodwink (someone); to gull.

[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.

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.

A device used to dampen, muffle, restrain, or otherwise control the movement of a fluid, or waves travelling through a fluid such as light or sound; specifically, a surface positioned inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one pl

sound baffle

Tanker trucks use baffles to keep the liquids inside from sloshing around.

A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.

A barrier designed to obstruct and confuse enemies, rendering them vulnerable.

An argument or objection based on an ambiguity of wording or similar trivial circumstance; a minor complaint; a quibble.

As to Nonplus an Ariſtotle vvould look, not only like a Slur to a particular Philoſopher, but like a Baffle to Philoſophy it ſelf.

To publicly disgrace (someone); specifically, a recreant knight.

And after all, for greater infamie, / He by the heeles him hung vpon a tree, / And baffuld ſo, that all vvhich paſſed by, / The picture of his puniſhment might ſee, / And by the like enſample vvarned bee, / Hovv euer they through treaſon doe treſpaſſe.

Then have the coppies of it paſted on poſts, / Like Phamplet titles that ſue to be ſold; / Have his diſgrace talk for Tobacco ſhops, / His picture bafful'd.

To treat (someone) with contempt; to disgrace; also, to speak of (someone or something) in contemptuous terms; to speak ill of, to vilify.

Should we (as you) borrow all out of others, and gather nothing of our selues, our names would be baffuld on euerie booke-sellers stall, and not a chandler's mustard-pot would wipe his mouth with our wast paper.

A Religion, that baffoules all temporall Princes, making them ſtand bare-foote at their great Biſhops gate, lye at his foote, holde his ſtirrup, yea their ovvne Crovvnes at his Curteſie, exempting all their Eccleſiaſticall Subiects from their iuriſdiction, and (vvhen they liſt) all the reſt from their allegeance.