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| a Titan who taught humans various arts, said to have shaped humans out of clay and who stole fire from Olympus for humans in defiance of Zeus |
| the daughters of Gaea who punish crimes at the instigation of the victims: Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone |
| labyrinth (ˈlæbərɪnθ) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | Compare maze a mazelike network of tunnels, chambers, or paths, either natural or man-made |
| 2. | any complex or confusing system of streets, passages, etc |
| 3. | a complex or intricate situation |
| 4. | a. any system of interconnecting cavities, esp those comprising the internal ear |
| b. another name for internal ear | |
| 5. | electronics an enclosure behind a high-performance loudspeaker, consisting of a series of air chambers designed to absorb unwanted sound waves |
| [C16: via Latin from Greek laburinthos, of obscure origin] | |
labyrinth lab·y·rinth (lāb'ə-rĭnth')
n.
A group of complex interconnecting anatomical cavities.
See inner ear.
| labyrinth (lāb'ə-rĭnth') Pronunciation Key
The system of interconnecting canals and spaces that make up the inner ear of many vertebrates. The labyrinth has both a bony component, made up of the cochlea, the semicircular canals, and the vestibule, and a membranous one. |
In classical mythology, a vast maze on the island of Crete. The great inventor Daedalus designed it, and the king of Crete kept the Minotaur in it. Very few people ever escaped from the Labyrinth. One was Theseus, the killer of the Minotaur.
Note: A labyrinth can be literally a maze or figuratively any highly intricate construction or problem.