different between forestall vs baffle

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English forestallen (“to forestall, intercept, ambush, way-lay”), from forestalle (“a forestalling, interception”), from Old English foresteall (“intervention, hindrance of justice, ambush”), from fore- (“ahead of, before”) + steall (“position”), equivalent to fore- +? stall.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??(?)?st??l/
• Rhymes: -??l

Verb

forestall (third-person singular simple present forestalls, present participle forestalling, simple past and past participle forestalled)

1. (transitive) To prevent, delay or hinder something by taking precautionary or anticipatory measures; to avert.

   Fred forestalled disaster by his prompt action.

2. (transitive) To preclude or bar from happening, render impossible.

   In French, an aspired h forestalls elision.

3. (archaic) To purchase the complete supply of a good, particularly foodstuffs, in order to charge a monopoly price.
4. To anticipate, to act foreseeingly.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 26

     She insisted on doing her share of the offices needful to the sick. She arranged his bed so that it was possible to change the sheet without disturbing him. She washed him. […] She did not speak to him much, but she was quick to forestall his wants.

5. To deprive (with of).
6. (Britain, law) To obstruct or stop up, as a road; to stop the passage of a highway; to intercept on the road, as goods on the way to market.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Derived terms

• forestaller
• forestalment
• forestallment

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English forstal, from Old English foresteall (“an intervention, hindrance (of justice), ambush, assault, offence of waylaying on the highway, fine for such an offence, resistance, opposition”), equivalent to fore- +? stall.

Alternative forms

• foresteal, forsteal, forestal

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f??(?).st??l/

Noun

forestall (plural forestalls)

1. (obsolete or historical) An ambush; plot; an interception; waylaying; rescue.
2. Something situated or placed in front.

Anagrams

• fellators

English

Alternative forms

• bafful, baffol (both obsolete)

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Perhaps related to French bafouer (“to scorn”) or obsolete French befer (“to mock”), via Scots bauchle (“to disgrace”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bæfl?/
• Hyphenation: baf?fle
• Rhymes: -æf?l

Verb

baffle (third-person singular simple present baffles, present participle baffling, simple past and past participle baffled)

1. (obsolete) To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight. [16th-17th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:

     He by the heeles him hung upon a tree, / And baffuld so, that all which passed by / The picture of his punishment might see […].

2. (obsolete) To hoodwink or deceive (someone). [16th-18th c.]
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Duty of Prayer (sermon)

     pretences to baffle with his goodness

3. To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:confuse

   • 1843, William H. Prescott, The History of the Conquest of Mexico

     computations, so difficult as to have baffled, till a comparatively recent period, the most enlightened nations

   • Every abstruse problem, every intricate question will not baffle, discourage or break it [the mind]

4. (now rare) To foil; to thwart. [from 17th c.]
   • 1798, William Cowper, On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture

     the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim

   • a suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all

   • 1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales

     So they had to search the world again for a sphinx. And still there was none. But they were not men that it is easy to baffle, and at last they found a sphinx in a desert at evening watching a ruined temple whose gods she had eaten hundreds of years ago when her hunger was on her.

5. (intransitive) To struggle in vain. [from 19th c.]

Translations

Derived terms

• bafflegab

Noun

baffle (plural baffles)

1. A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.

2. An architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.
3. (US, dialect, coal mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.

Descendants

• ? French: baffle
• ? Spanish: bafle

Translations

Further reading

• “baffle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

References

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English baffle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bafl/

Noun

baffle m or f (plural baffles)

1. speaker (audio)

   Synonym: haut-parleur