baffle

1. (transitive)Examples: "I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions."; "They were baffled as to how the confusion could have arisen."; "[T]he full, Entire knovvledge of it [the gospel] may be one Principal Part of our Felicity and Bleſſedneſs hereafter. All thoſe Heights and Depths vvhich vve novv ſtand ſo much amazed at, and vvhich ſo confound and baffle the ſubtleſt and moſt Piercing Apprehenſion, ſhall then be made Clear, Open and Familiar to us."Synonyms: addle, baffle, lose, stick, stump, baffound, bamboozle, bedevilAntonyms: clarify, enlighten, unbaffletransitive

2. (transitive)Examples: "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."; "It hath always been my way to baffle reproach with silence; though I cannot but observe the disingenuous proceedings of this gentleman, who is not content to asperse my writings, but hath wounded, through my sides, those eminent and worthy citizens, Mr. John Morphew, and Mr. Bernard Lintot."Synonyms: beat, bring down, chew up, eat someone for breakfast, eat someone's lunch, humble, kick ass, murdelizearchaictransitive

3. (transitive)Examples: ""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.""Synonyms: beat, bring down, chew up, eat someone for breakfast, eat someone's lunch, humble, kick ass, murdelizearchaicspecificallytransitive

4. (transitive)Examples: "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."transitive

5. (transitive)Examples: "[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]t laſt he vvas driven to confeſs the Truth, told the horrid Bargain he had made, and hovv the Devil often promis'd him a Covv, but never gave him one, except that ſeveral Times in the Morning early he found a Covv put into his Yard, but it alvvays prov'd to belong to ſome of his Neighbours: […] if he [the Devil] had not had a Mind to cheat or baffle the poor Man, vvhat need he have taken a Covv ſo near home?"obsoletetransitive

6. (transitive)Examples: "[T]he Lavv of God pardoning and unpardoning hath bin ſhamefully branded, for vvant of heed in gloſſing, to have eluded and baffl'd out, all Faith and chaſtity from the marriagebed of that holy ſeed, vvith politick and judicial adulteries."; "[A]ll VVriters of Ethics have uniformly declared no ſervility to be ſo ſordid and intolerable, as that of the vicious man to his Paſſions and Luſts. Top the latter, he confronts the miſcheif of being a ſlave to every man elſe; for ſuch he certainly is, vvhom the fear of ſuffering can baffle out of any thing he thinks juſt and honeſt."; "Parents vvill not be baffled out of their children by impudent gentlemen; nor is it fit they ſhould."obsoletetransitive