maze - Definitions from Dictionary.com

8 results for: maze

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

maze

Audio Help [meyz] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, mazed, maz·ing.

–noun

1.	a confusing network of intercommunicating paths or passages; labyrinth.

2.	any complex system or arrangement that causes bewilderment, confusion, or perplexity: Her petition was lost in a maze of bureaucratic red tape.

3.	a state of bewilderment or confusion.

4.	a winding movement, as in dancing.

–verb (used with object)

5.	Chiefly Dialect. to daze, perplex, or stupefy.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME mase, n. use of aph. var. of amasen to amaze

]

—Related forms

mazed·ly

Audio Help [meyzd-lee, mey-zid-] Pronunciation Key, adverb

mazedness, noun

mazelike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
maze

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

maze Audio Help (māz) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. An intricate, usually confusing network of interconnecting pathways, as in a garden; a labyrinth.
2. A physical situation in which it is easy to get lost: a maze of bureaucratic divisions.
A graphic puzzle, the solution of which is an uninterrupted path through an intricate pattern of line segments from a starting point to a goal.
Something made up of many confused or conflicting elements; a tangle: a maze of government regulations.

tr.v. mazed, maz·ing, maz·es Chiefly Southern U.S.

To bewilder or astonish.
To stupefy; daze. See Regional Note at possum.

[Middle English mase, confusion, maze, from masen, to confuse, daze, from Old English āmasian, to confound; see amaze.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
maze (n.)

1297, "delusion, bewilderment," possibly from O.E. *mæs, which is suggested by the compound amasod "amazed" (see amaze). Perhaps related to Norw. dial. mas "exhausting labor." Meaning "labyrinth" first recorded c.1385.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

maze
noun
1.	complex system of paths or tunnels in which it is easy to get lost
2.	something jumbled or confused; "a tangle of government regulations" [syn: tangle]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
maze [meiz] noun

a deliberately confusing series of paths, often surrounded by walls or hedges, from which it's difficult to find the way out
Example: I'm lost in a maze of rules and regulations.

Arabic:	مَتاهَه
Chinese (Simplified):	迷宫
Chinese (Traditional):	迷宮
Czech:	bludiště
Danish:	labyrint
Dutch:	doolhof
Estonian:	rägastik
Finnish:	sokkelo
French:	labyrinthe
German:	der Irrgarten
Greek:	λαβύρινθος
Hungarian:	labirintus
Icelandic:	völundarhús
Indonesian:	labirin
Italian:	labirinto

Japanese:	迷路
Korean:	미로, 혼란
Latvian:	labirints
Lithuanian:	raizginys, painiava, labirintas
Norwegian:	labyrint
Polish:	labirynt
Portuguese (Brazil):	labirinto
Portuguese (Portugal):	labirinto
Romanian:	labirint
Russian:	лабиринт
Slovak:	bludisko
Slovenian:	labirint
Spanish:	laberinto
Swedish:	labyrint, irrgång
Turkish:	labirent

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Maze

Lab"y*rinth\, n. [L. labyrinthus, Gr. laby`rinthos: cf. F. labyrinthe.]

1. An edifice or place full of intricate passageways which render it difficult to find the way from the interior to the entrance; as, the Egyptian and Cretan labyrinths.

2. Any intricate or involved inclosure; especially, an ornamental maze or inclosure in a park or garden.

3. Any object or arrangement of an intricate or involved form, or having a very complicated nature.

The serpent . . . fast sleeping soon he found, In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled. --Milton.

The labyrinth of the mind. --Tennyson.

4. An inextricable or bewildering difficulty.

I' the maze and winding labyrinths o' the world. --Denham.

5. (Anat.) The internal ear. See Note under Ear.

6. (Metal.) A series of canals through which a stream of water is directed for suspending, carrying off, and depositing at different distances, the ground ore of a metal. --Ure.

7. (Arch.) A pattern or design representing a maze, -- often inlaid in the tiled floor of a church, etc.

Syn: Maze; confusion; intricacy; windings.

Usage: Labyrinth, Maze. Labyrinth, originally; the name of an edifice or excavation, carries the idea of design, and construction in a permanent form, while maze is used of anything confused or confusing, whether fixed or shifting. Maze is less restricted in its figurative uses than labyrinth. We speak of the labyrinth of the ear, or of the mind, and of a labyrinth of difficulties; but of the mazes of the dance, the mazes of political intrigue, or of the mind being in a maze.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Maze

Mase\, n. & v. See Maze. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Maze

Maze\, n. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw. masa to bask, be slow, work slowly and lazily, mas slow, lazy.]

1. A wild fancy; a confused notion. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

2. Confusion of thought; perplexity; uncertainty; state of bewilderment.

3. A confusing and baffling network, as of paths or passages; an intricacy; a labyrinth. "Quaint mazes on the wanton green." --Shak.

Or down the tempting maze of Shawford brook. --Wordaworth.

The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, Puzzled with mazes, and perplexed with error. --Addison.

Syn: Labyrinth; intricacy. See Labyrinth.

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