Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.