labyrinth


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Related to labyrinth: Labyrinth seal

lab·y·rinth

 (lăb′ə-rĭnth′)
n.
1.
a. An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze.
b. Labyrinth Greek Mythology The maze in which the Minotaur was confined.
2. A design consisting of a single unbranching but highly convoluted path leading from the outside to the center of a usually circular or square space.
3. Something highly intricate or convoluted in character, composition, or construction: a labyrinth of rules and regulations.
4. Anatomy
a. A group of complex interconnecting anatomical cavities.
b. See inner ear.

[Middle English laberinthe, from Latin labyrinthus, from Greek laburinthos; possibly akin to labrus, double-headed axe (used as a ritual weapon and a sign of authority in Minoan civilization, so that Greek laburinthos may originally have designated a Minoan palace as "the house of the double-headed axe"), of Lydian origin.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

labyrinth

(ˈlæbərɪnθ)
n
1. a mazelike network of tunnels, chambers, or paths, either natural or man-made. Compare maze1
2. any complex or confusing system of streets, passages, etc
3. a complex or intricate situation
4. (Anatomy)
a. any system of interconnecting cavities, esp those comprising the internal ear
b. another name for internal ear
5. (Electronics) 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

(ˈlæbərɪnθ)
n
(Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth a huge maze constructed for King Minos in Crete by Daedalus to contain the Minotaur
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lab•y•rinth

(ˈlæb ə rɪnθ)

n.
1. an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit.
2. a maze of paths bordered by high hedges, as in a park or garden.
3. a complicated or tortuous arrangement or state of things or events; a bewildering complex.
4.
a. the bony cavity or membranous part of the inner ear.
b. the aggregate of air chambers in the ethmoid bone, between the eye and the upper part of the nose.
[1540–50; earlier laborynt < Medieval Latin laborintus, Latin labyrinthus < Greek labýrinthos]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

lab·y·rinth

(lăb′ə-rĭnth′)
The system of tubes and spaces that make up the inner ear of many vertebrate animals.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Labyrinth

 an intricate, complicated, or tortuous arrangement.
Examples: labyrinth of islands, 1778; of peristyles and pediments, 1873; of rivulets and canals, 1777; of scattered suburbs, 1843; of small veins and arteries, 1615.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.labyrinth - complex system of paths or tunnels in which it is easy to get lostlabyrinth - complex system of paths or tunnels in which it is easy to get lost
system - instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity; "he bought a new stereo system"; "the system consists of a motor and a small computer"
2.labyrinth - a complex system of interconnecting cavitieslabyrinth - a complex system of interconnecting cavities; concerned with hearing and equilibrium
neuroepithelium - epithelium associated with special sense organs and containing sensory nerve endings
sense organ, sensory receptor, receptor - an organ having nerve endings (in the skin or viscera or eye or ear or nose or mouth) that respond to stimulation
auditory apparatus - all of the components of the organ of hearing including the outer and middle and inner ears
membranous labyrinth - the sensory structures of the inner ear including the labyrinthine receptors and the cochlea; contained within the bony labyrinth
bony labyrinth, osseous labyrinth - cavity in the petrous part of the temporal bone that contains the membranous labyrinth
endolymph - the bodily fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear
perilymph - the bodily fluid that fills the space between the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear
semicircular canal - one of three tube loops filled with fluid and in planes nearly at right angles with one another; concerned with equilibrium
cochlea - the snail-shaped tube (in the inner ear coiled around the modiolus) where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses by the organ of Corti
artery of the labyrinth, internal auditory artery, labyrinthine artery - an artery that is a branch of the basilar artery that supplies the labyrinth
internal auditory vein, labyrinthine vein - veins that drain the inner ear
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

labyrinth

noun
1. maze, jungle, tangle, coil, snarl, entanglement a labyrinth of corridors
2. intricacy, puzzle, complexity, riddle, complication, tangle, maze, entanglement, perplexity, convolution, knotty problem a labyrinth of conflicting political interpretations
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

labyrinth

noun
Something that is intricately and often bewilderingly complex:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
تيه، مَتاهَه
labyrint
labyrint
labirinto
labyrinttisokkelo
labirint
völundarhús
미로
labirintas
labirints
błędniklabirynt
labirint
labyrint

labyrinth

[ˈlæbərɪnθ] Nlaberinto m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

labyrinth

[ˈlæbərɪnθ] nlabyrinthe m, dédale m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

labyrinth

n (lit, fig)Labyrinth nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

labyrinth

[ˈlæbɪrɪnθ] nlabirinto
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

labyrinth

(ˈlӕbərinθ) noun
a place full of long, winding passages; a maze.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

lab·y·rinth

n. laberinto.
1. red de conductos del oído interno cuya función relaciona la audición con el equilibrio del cuerpo;
2. conductos y cavidades que forman un sistema comunicándose entre sí.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

labyrinth

n (anat) laberinto
English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
"We are now," said Ariadne, "in the famous labyrinth which Daedalus built before he made himself a pair of wings, and flew away from our island like a bird.
About twelve by the moon-dial One, more filmy than the rest(A kind which, upon trial, They have found to be the best) Comes down - still down - and down With its centre on the crown Of a mountain's eminence, While its wide circumference In easy drapery falls Over hamlets, over halls, Wherever they may be - O'er the strange woods - o'er the sea - Over spirits on the wing - Over every drowsy thing - And buries them up quite In a labyrinth of light - And then, how deep!
Every few steps other lofty and still narrower crevices branched from it on either hand -- for McDougal's cave was but a vast labyrinth of crooked aisles that ran into each other and out again and led nowhere.
Between his ribs and on each side of his spine he is supplied with a remarkable involved Cretan labyrinth of vermicelli-like vessels, which vessels, when he quits the surface, are completely distended with oxygenated blood.
For more than an hour the carriage threaded its way through a dingy brick labyrinth of streets, growing smaller and smaller and dirtier and dirtier the further we went.
He found himself at once in a labyrinth, and wandered about for a long time without meeting anyone; in fact, the only sight he saw was a circle of human hands, sticking out of the ground above the wrist, each with a bracelet of gold, on which a name was written.
He lived almost entirely in a little room that was in the very centre of the enormous labyrinth of all the other rooms, and even in this he erected another sort of central cabin or cupboard, lined with steel, like a safe or a battleship.
He thanked Providence for having sent this happy idea to him; but, as he was preparing to cross the Place, in order to reach the tortuous labyrinth of the city, where meander all those old sister streets, the Rues de la Barillerie, de la Vielle-Draperie, de la Savaterie, de la Juiverie, etc., still extant to-day, with their nine-story houses, he saw the procession of the Pope of the Fools, which was also emerging from the court house, and rushing across the courtyard, with great cries, a great flashing of torches, and the music which belonged to him, Gringoire.
Pursuing his course, he entered the labyrinth of streets which led, in that quarter of East London, to the unsavory neighborhood of the river-side.
They left the house stealthily, and hurrying through a labyrinth of streets, arrived at length before a public-house, which Noah recognised as the same in which he had slept, on the night of his arrival in London.
But a short distance from the circular chamber we came suddenly into a brilliantly lighted labyrinth of crystal glass partitioned passages.
The counterpane was of patchwork, full of odd little parti-colored squares and triangles; and this arm of his tattooed all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure, no two parts of which were of one precise shade --owing I suppose to his keeping his arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, his shirt sleeves irregularly rolled up at various times --this same arm of his, I say, looked for all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt.