BAFFLED • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Baffled

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/bˈæfəld/ Listen

verb

Baffle v. t. (past & past part. baffled; pres. part. baffling)

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."

2.

To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. "The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim."

3.

To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." "A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all." "Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a... recent period, the most enlightened nations." "The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us."

Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another.

Synonyms: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat.

Baffle v. i.

1.

To practice deceit. (Obs.)

2.

To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. (R.)

adjective

baffled adj.

1.

Not understanding.

Synonyms: uncomprehending.

2.

Discouraged by failure to accomplish a goal and uncertain how to proceed; used especially of feelings of defeat and discouragement.

Synonyms: balked, discomfited, discouraged, frustrated.

See images of 'Baffled'

Etymology of 'Baffled'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Baffled" Quotes from Famous Books

... completely baffled, and hoping against hope to find Imbrie returned. But Clare still sat huddled in the chair where he had left her, and looked to him eagerly for news. He ...

— The Woman from Outside - [on Swan River] • Hulbert Footner

... I had been counting. Nay, I saw that for my very life I had only my friend the cutler and my own prudence to thank, seeing that these rogues would certainly have murdered me without scruple had they succeeded in finding the bulk of my money. Baffled in this, while still persuaded that I had other resources, they had stopped short of that villany—or this memoir had never been written. They had kindly permitted me to live until a more favourable opportunity of enriching ...

— A Gentleman of France • Stanley Weyman

... puzzled. A gentleman in the audience called out, "Tell him to give the half of twenty-seven." Poor Minos looked quite bewildered for a moment; but he was not to be baffled so. He ran off, and brought back the card with the figure on ...

— The Nursery, No. 107, November, 1875, Vol. XVIII. - A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers • Various

... though not abandoned it, and Heaven was on their side. The saints vouchsafed their aid, and the offended Virgin, relenting, held before them her protecting shield. In the form of beasts and other shapes abominably and unutterably hideous, the brood of hell, howling in baffled fury, tore at the branches of the sylvan dwelling; but a celestial hand was ever interposed, and there was a viewless barrier which they might not pass. Marguerite became pregnant. Here was a double prize—two souls in one, mother and child. The fiends grew frantic, but all in vain. She ...

— Old Quebec - The Fortress of New France • Sir Gilbert Parker and Claude Glennon Bryan

... take them, if possible, by surprise, it frequently happened that his appearance was as unexpected as it was unwelcome. It was then that the prompt ingenuity of the people was fully seen, felt, and understood by the baffled exciseman, who too often had just grounds for bitterly cursing their ...

— Phil Purcel, The Pig-Driver; The Geography Of An Irish Oath; The Lianhan Shee • William Carleton

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