labyrinth

plural labyrinths

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

      1 more example

      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."

      1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 264–265

      Synonyms: maze

   2. GreekagricultureA maze formed by paths separated by high hedges.
   3. Greekhuman sciencesA structure similar to a maze, but containing only one path with no branches, as distinguished from a maze which contains multiple branching paths
   4. Greekbroadlyhuman sciencesAnything 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.

      1986 February 15, Elizabeth Pincus, “The CDC: When Politics & Egos Hamper Saving Lives”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 39, page 1

      1 more example

      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.

      2014 August 23, Neil Hegarty, “Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin by Karl Whitney, review: 'a necessary corrective' [print version: Re-Joycing in Dublin, p. R25]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)

2. A tortuous anatomical structure:
   1. anatomyA 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).
   2. anatomyAn accessory respiratory organ of certain fish.
3. Any of various satyrine butterflies of the genus Neope.

present singular third person labyrinths · participle present labyrinthing · participle past labyrinthed · past labyrinthed

1. To enclose in a labyrinth, or as though in a labyrinth.
2. To arrange in the form of a labyrinth.

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

   2011, Peter Capper, James Garland, Mercury Cadmium Telluride: Growth, Properties and Applications

   3 more examples

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

   1898, Missionary Review of the World - Volume 21, page 178

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

   1963, Water & Sewage Works - Volume 110, page 43

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

   1998, Peter E. Stott, Giuseppe Gorini, Paolo Prandoni, Diagnostics for Experimental Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors

3. To twist and wind, following a labyrinthine path.

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

   2017, Mahvesh Murad, Jared Shurin, Neil Gaiman, The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories

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   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.

   1917, Harry Alverson Franck, Vagabonding Down the Andes, page 313

   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.

   2000, James Cook, Counter-Clockwise, page 90

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

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

   1951, New Mexico Quarterly - Volumes 21-22

   2 more examples

   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.

   1886, Pliny A. Durant, History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, page 52

   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.

   1995, Patrick Waddington, Theirs but to do and die, page 148