labyrinthine, a.
(læbɪˈrɪnθaɪn, -ɪn)
[f. labyrinth n. + -ine.]
1. Pertaining to, or of the nature or form of, a labyrinth; having or consisting of many intricate turnings or windings.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 99 These Laborinthing Seas. 1747 Spence Polymetis (L.), She [Ariadne] preserved him in the labyrinthine mazes of Crete. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. 53 The long and labyrinthine aisles. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life ii. vi. (1862) 163 The midges are celebrating their airy and labyrinthine dances with an amazing adroitness. 1863 N. Hawthorne Our old Home 240 The lanes, alleys and strange labyrinthine courts. 1863 H. W. Bates Naturalist on Amazon iv. 132 A large flat Helix with a labyrinthine mouth. 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 351 The parietes of the teeth are deeply plaited and folded, so as to give rise to a complicated ‘labyrinthine’ pattern in the transverse section of the tooth. 1876 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 172 Your labyrinthine magnificence at Burlington House. |
2. fig. Intricate, complicated, involved, inextricable.
| 1840 De Quincey Style i. Wks. 1890 X. 158 To follow the discussion through endless and labyrinthine sentences. 1853 F. W. Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. iv. (1872) 45 An entangled, labyrinthine enigma. 1865 Sat. Rev. 7 Jan. 16/1 [Browning] is apt to entangle the reader in labyrinthine thoughts. |
3. Pertaining to the labyrinth of the ear.
| 1876 Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 101 Labyrinthine disease. |