baffle

• vt. 使…困惑；使…受挫折；用挡板控制
• n. 挡板；困惑
• vi. 做徒劳挣扎

拟声词。

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 bafouer ‘hoodwink, 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.

baffle (v.)

1540s, "to disgrace," perhaps a Scottish respelling of bauchle "to disgrace publicly" (especially a perjured knight), which is probably related to French bafouer "to abuse, hoodwink" (16c.), possibly from baf, a natural sound of disgust, like bah (compare German baff machen "to flabbergast"). Meaning "to bewilder, confuse" is from 1640s; that of "to defeat someone's efforts" is from 1670s. Related: Baffled; baffling.

baffle (n.)

"shielding device," 1881, from baffle (v.).

1. She had then offered him the chance to baffle his doom.

当时她向他提供战胜厄运的机会.

来自辞典例句

2. I do not therefore baffle the reader with disputable statistics.

因此,我不想拿一些值得争论的统计数字来为难读者.

来自辞典例句

3. He tried hard to baffle our plan.

他力图阻挠我们的计划.

来自辞典例句

4. It has been a common practice to design a baffle system to suppress sloshing.

一般的作法是设计一个挡流板系统来阻止晃动.

来自辞典例句

5. Seldon, as he ran, bounded from side to side to baffle and deceive their aim.

塞尔登一会儿跳到这边,一会儿跳到那边跑着, 搞乱和干扰他们的目标.

来自辞典例句