labyrinth

noun

1. 1

   A maze-like structure built by Daedalus in Knossos, containing the Minotaur. A complicated irregular network of passages or paths, especially underground or covered, in which it is difficult to find one's way.

   Mrs. Churchill liked the interminable labyrinths of the Cyrus and the Cassandra, because she had liked them in the days of her girlhood. Youth identifies itself with the romance; it is the heroic knight, or the lovely lady, of which it reads; it lives amid those fine creations; its sweetest hours are given to dreams which soon "Fade into the light of common day."

2. 2

   A maze-like structure built by Daedalus in Knossos, containing the Minotaur. A maze formed by paths separated by high hedges.

3. 3

   A maze-like structure built by Daedalus in Knossos, containing the Minotaur. A structure similar to a maze, but containing only one path with no branches, as distinguished from a maze which contains multiple branching paths

4. 4

   A maze-like structure built by Daedalus in Knossos, containing the Minotaur. Anything complicated and confusing in structure, arrangement, or character.

   Recent investigations into alleged wrongdoings at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveal an apparent labyrinth of deceit, competitiveness, and a sluggish approach to fighting AIDS/ARC.

   Whitney is absorbed especially by Dublin's unglamorous interstitial zones: the new housing estates and labyrinths of roads, watercourses and railways where the city peters into its commuter belt.

5. 5

   A tortuous anatomical structure: A complex structure in the inner ear which contains the organs of hearing and balance, consisting of bony cavities (the bony labyrinth) filled with fluid and lined with sensitive membranes (the membranous labyrinth).

6. 6

   A tortuous anatomical structure: An accessory respiratory organ of certain fish.

7. 7

   Any of various satyrine butterflies of the genus Neope.

verb

1. 1

   To enclose in a labyrinth, or as though in a labyrinth.

2. 2

   To arrange in the form of a labyrinth.

   It is said to have been labyrinthed by secret exits and cunning contrivances to facilitate the escape of fugitives from the law.

   By labyrinthing, close axial running clearances can be increased without reducing efficiency.

   In the ports the transmission path is often labyrinthed through shielding but the peculiar requirement of straight beams has been considered.

   The element illustrated has been 'labyrinthed' to improve its performance.

3. 3

   To twist and wind, following a labyrinthine path.

   We labyrinthed through it, meeting scores of panty-clad and moccasined Indians and barefoot women and girls toiling marketward under atrocious burdens; for the day was Sunday.

   Hands clasped together, Linda and Ron walked through the huge doorway leading to the hall that would labyrinth it's^([sic]) way to the parking lot.

   I'm far from home, labyrinthing through unfamiliar alleys, before I find the right house.

4. 4

   To become lost and confused, as if in a labyrinth.

   They arrive at their different destinations long before day, and make their attack about day-break, and seldom fail to kill or make prisoners of the whole family, as the people know nothing of the matter until they are thus labyrinthed.

   He favored, he said, "a kind of half-sleep where I labyrinthed myself."

   Above all, he flatters the men by emphasising their numerical victory: a British regiment may have turned into a troop, but it left behind it 'labyrinthed legions' of dead Russians.

Forms

plural

labyrinths

past tense

labyrinthed

past participle

labyrinthed

present participle

labyrinthing

third person singular

labyrinths