labyrinth

Borrowed from Latin labyrinthus, from Ancient Greek λαβύρινθος (labúrinthos, “maze”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlæb.(ə)ɹ.ɪnθ/, /ˈlæb.ɪ.ɹɪnθ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlæb.ɚ.ɪnθ/, /ˈlæb.ɹɪnθ/

• Audio (US)

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labyrinth (plural labyrinths)

1. (Greek mythology) A maze-like structure built by Daedalus in Knossos.
   1. A maze, especially underground or covered.
2. Part of the inner ear.
3. (figuratively) Anything complicated and confusing, like a maze.
   • 2014 August 23, Neil Hegarty, “Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin by Karl Whitney, review: 'a necessary corrective' [print version: Re-Joycing in Dublin, p. R25]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎:

     Whitney is absorbed especially by Dublin's unglamorous interstitial zones: the new housing estates and labyrinths of roads, watercourses and railways where the city peters into its commuter belt.

labyrinth (third-person singular simple present labyrinths, present participle labyrinthing, simple past and past participle labyrinthed)

1. To enclose in a labyrinth, or as though in a labyrinth.
2. To arrange in the form of a labyrinth.

• “labyrinth” in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.