▪ I. † perplex, n. Obs. rare.
[f. assumed L. type *perplexu-s, after next and L. plexu-s plaiting, twining, braid.]
= perplexity; entanglement.
| 1652 H. L'Estrange Amer. no Jewes 36 Ready to perform that office with the least trouble and perplex. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. cxiii, There, there's a perplex! I could have wished..the author..had added notes. |
▪ II. † perˈplex, a. Obs.
[ad. L. perplex-us involved, confused, intricate, f. per- 2 + plexus interwoven, entangled, involved, intricate, pa. pple. of plectĕre to plait, interweave. (L. had no vb. perplectĕre.) OF. had also perplaist, perplix (15th c.), perplex, -e (16th c.) repr. the L. adj.
In this family of words, the chronological order of the senses in Eng. reverses the logical and historical development in L.]
1. Of persons: Perplexed, puzzled, bewildered.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 422 Þe Popis lawe..makiþ hem [men] perplex, and bindiþ her conscience wiþ feyned bondis. 1520 Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 13, I am perplexe or doutfull in this mater. 1546 Coverdale tr. Calvin's Treat. Sacram. C ij, So dyd the sophisticall doctors..holde the myserable consciences to muche perplexe. |
2. Of things: Intricate, and hence difficult to unravel or clear up; involved, tangled.
| 1534 More Treat. Passion Wks. 1309/1 An other maner of rekenynge, with which wee shall not neede to medle. This muche is perplex inough. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1621/1 Obscure and perplexe kind of writing. 1610 J. Dove Advt. Seminaries 2 The matter..seemeth perplexe, and very difficult. 1684 Ray Corr. (1848) 139 To give some light..by..extricating what is perplex and entangled. |
▪ III. perplex, v.
(pəˈplɛks)
[Formed under the influence of perplex a. and perplexed ppl. a., and at first used only in pa. pple., apart from which the earliest trace of the vb. is in the end of the 16th c.; it occurs once in Shakes.: see quot. 1595. As to sense-development see perplex a.]
1. trans. To fill (a person) with uncertainty as to the nature or treatment of a thing by reason of its involved or intricate character; to trouble with doubt; to distract, confuse, bewilder, puzzle.
| [1477: see perplexed ppl. a. 1.] 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 222 Fra. I am perplext, and know not what to say. Pan. What canst thou say, but wil perplex thee more? If thou stand excommunicate, and curst? 1604 ― Oth. v. ii. 346. 1611 Bible 2 Cor. iv. 8 We are perplexed, but not in despaire. 1623 Conway in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 155 That which pinch't and perplex't most. 1670–1 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 374, I think we shall perplex one of them against the other, so that neither shall make any promise. 1791 Cowper Iliad xviii. 577 Perplex not with these cares thy soul. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. ii. xii. 287 Their contradictory accounts..serve only to perplex..the student. |
† b. To torment, trouble, vex, plague. Obs.
| 1686 tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 129 His Distemper still perplex'd him. 1691 Ld. Lansdowne Adolphus etc., Cloe's the wonder of her sex, 'Tis well her heart is tender, How might such killing Eyes perplex, With Virtue to defend her. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 138 We were a little perplex'd by the Servants. |
2. To render (a thing) intricate or complicated in character and hence difficult to understand or deal with; to make (a thing) doubtful or uncertain through intricacy; to complicate, confuse, muddle.
| a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. iii. §3 (1622) 219 A very good, and a sound reason; though somewhat, perhaps, perplexed vnto the vulgar vnderstanding, through [etc.]. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 228 Our peace both of Church and Common-wealth hath beene a little plundered and perplexed. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 160 It is clearly out of order to perplex the question. 1701 Swift Contests Nobles & Comm. iii, He added three hundred commons to the senate, which perplexed the power of the whole order, and rendered it ineffectual. 1771 Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 135 Perplexing a subject plain in itself. a 1871 Grote Eth. Fragm. iii. (1876) 61 It is possible by a cloud of unmeaning words to perplex the question. 1894 T. E. Page æneid ii. 178 Notes 222 Editors perplex the passage. |
3. To bring into an intricately involved physical condition; to cause to become tangled; to entangle, intertwine; to intermingle.
| 1620–55 I. Jones Stone-Heng (1725) 25 White, perplexed (as it were) with a ruddy Colour. 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iii. lxviii, An heap of Orbs disorderly perplext. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 56 ¶3 A thick Forest made up of Bushes, Brambles, and pointed Thorns, so perplexed and interwoven with one another, that it was impossible to find a Passage through it. 1765 Goldsm. Double Transform. 71 Now to perplex the ravell'd noose, As each a different way pursues. 1835 T. T. Stoddart Art Angling in Scot. (1836) 41 Some trout..attempt to cut or perplex the tackle among stones or weeds. 1860 Hawthorne Transform. (Tauchn.) II. xvii. 192 The complication of narrow streets which perplex that portion of the city. |
Hence perˈplexing vbl. n.
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Irene Wks. (1711) 170 When ye beget..anxious entangling and perplexing of consciences. |