vex
See also: VEX
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vēxāre (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Displaced native Middle English grillen (“to vex, annoy”) from Old English grillan. Doublet of quake.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
vex (third-person singular simple present vexes, present participle vexing, simple past and past participle vexed or (archaic) vext)
- (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, Acts xij:[1], folio clxxj, verso:
- In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ / to vexe them.
- (transitive) To annoy, irritate.
- Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
- (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
- (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.
- 1668, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, M. DC. LXVI. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], OCLC 1064438096, (please specify the stanza number):
- some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom
- (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Chapman to this entry?)
- (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
- 1725, Homer; [Elijah Fenton], transl., “Book IV”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646:
- White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.
QuotationsEdit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:vex.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to annoy
|
to distress; to cause mental suffering
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
NounEdit
vex (plural vexes)
ReferencesEdit
- “vex” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.
Middle EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
NounEdit
vex
- Alternative form of wax (“wax”)
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
vex
- Alternative form of vexen