baffling wind
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
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.] [1913 Webster]
1.To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
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.[1913 Webster]
2.To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. [1913 Webster]
The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim.— Cowper.[1913 Webster]
3.To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." --De Quincey. [1913 Webster]
A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all.— South.[1913 Webster]
Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations.— Prescott.[1913 Webster]
The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us.— Locke.[1913 Webster]
Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another. [1913 Webster]
Syn: To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat. [1913 Webster]