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more about baffle
baffle |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Baffle \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.] From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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, b[ae]gja to push treat harshly, OF beffler beffer, to mock, deceive, dial. G. b["a]ppe 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Baffle \Baf"fle\, v. i. 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] --Barrow. 2. To struggle against in vain; as a ship baffles with the winds. [R.] From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Baffle \Baf"fle\, n. A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] ``A baffle to philosophy.'' --South. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: baffle n : controls or directs flow of fluid or energy [syn: {baffle board}] v 1: be a mystery or bewildering to: "This beats me!" "Got me--I don't know the answer!" [syn: {perplex}, {get}, {puzzle}, {mystify}, {beat}, {bewilder}, {flummox}, {stupefy}, {stupify}, {nonplus}, {gravel}, {amaze}, {dumbfound}, {trounce}] 2: to hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of: "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge." [syn: {thwart}, {queer}, {spoil}, {scotch}, {foil}, {cross}, {frustrate}, {bilk}] 3: check the emission of (sound) [syn: {regulate}]
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