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[aum]ppe mouth,
   beffen to bark, chide.]
   
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   1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a
      recreant knight. [Obs.]
      
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            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.
      
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   2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil.
      
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            The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim.
                                                  --Cowper.
      
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   3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or
      defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." --De Quincey.
      
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            A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them
            all.                                  --South.
      
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            Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until
            within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened
            nations.                              --Prescott.
      
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            The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle
            us.                                   --Locke.
      
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   {Baffling wind} (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one
      point to another.
      
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   Syn: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat.
        
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Baffling \Baf"fling\ (b[a^]f"fl[i^]ng), a.
   Frustrating; discomfiting; disconcerting; as, baffling
   currents, winds, tasks. -- {Baffling*ly}, adv. --
   {Baffling*ness}, n.
   
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baffling
     adj : making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve; "a
           baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what
           to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at
           home" [syn: {knotty}, {problematic}, {problematical}]

21 Moby Thesaurus words for "baffling":
   bewildering, bothering, confounding, confusing, defeating,
   discomposing, disconcerting, dismaying, distracting, disturbing,
   embarrassing, enigmatic, frustrating, intricate, mysterious,
   mystifying, perplexing, perturbing, problematic, puzzling,
   upsetting