baffle

baffle
\ \ [16] The etymology of baffle is appropriately baffling. Two main candidates have been proposed as a source. The first is the medieval Scots verb bawchill or bauchle, meaning ‘discredit publicly’. This fits in with the way baffle was first used: ‘I will baffull your good name, sound with the trumpet your dishonour, and paint your pictor with the heeles vpward, and beate it in despight of yourselfe’, Churchyardes chippes 1570. The other strand is represented by French bafouerhoodwink, deceive’, which perhaps comes from Old French beffer. This corresponds more closely to the present-day meaning of baffle, and it may well be that there are two distinct words here.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Baffle — can refer to: * Baffle (Speaker system enclosure or referred to as Cabinet) * Baffles (submarine) * Sound baffle * Baffle gate , which is a Turnstile * Baffle (game show) and All Star Baffle, a 1973 74 NBC daytime TV game show that was a revival… …   Wikipedia

  • baffle — [ bafl ] n. m. • 1948; mot angl. « écran » ♦ Panneau sur lequel est monté le diffuseur d un haut parleur et qui permet de séparer le rayonnement de la face avant du haut parleur de celui de la face arrière afin d améliorer la sonorité. Recomm.… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Baffle — Baf fle (b[a^]f f l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Baffled} ( f ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Baffling} ( fl[i^]ng).] [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. b[=a]gr uneasy, poor, or b[=a]gr, n., struggle,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Baffle — Baf fle, n. 1. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] A baffle to philosophy. South. [1913 Webster] 2. (Engin.) (a) A deflector, as a plate or wall, so arranged across a furnace or boiler flue as to mingle the hot gases and… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • baffle — [v1] perplex addle, amaze, astound, befuddle, bewilder, buffalo*, confound, confuse, daze, disconcert, dumbfound, elude, embarrass, faze, floor*, get, mix up, muddle, mystify, nonplus, puzzle, rattle, stick*, stump*, stun, throw; concepts 7,19,42 …   New thesaurus

  • baffle — [baf′əl] vt. baffled, baffling [16th c. Scot; prob. respelling (as duff for dough, Affleck for Auchinleck) of obs. bauchle] 1. to confuse so as to keep from understanding or solving; puzzle; confound 2. to interfere with; hinder; impede 3. to… …   English World dictionary

  • Baffle — Baf fle, v. i. 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] Barrow. [1913 Webster] 2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • baffle — I verb balk, befog, beguile, bewilder, bluff, bother, check, circumvent, complicate, confound, confuse, cross, defeat, discomfort, disconcert, dismay, disrupt, evade, flummox, fool, frustrate, fuddle, hoax, hinder, impede, incommode,… …   Law dictionary

  • Baffle —   [bæfl, englisch] der oder das, s/ s, Vakuumtechnik: Prallfläche …   Universal-Lexikon

  • baffle — → bafle …   Diccionario panhispánico de dudas

  • baffle — balk, circumvent, outwit, foil, thwart, *frustrate Analogous words: *puzzle, mystify, confound, dumbfound: discomfit, rattle, faze, *embarrass, disconcert: *confuse, addle, muddle: *hamper, fetter, hog tie: *hinder, impede, obstruct, block …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

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