Also 5–7 vexe, wex (5 uex, wix). [a. OF. (also mod.F.) vexer, ad. L. vexāre to shake, agitate, disturb, etc., whence also It. vessare, Pg. vexar, Sp. vejar.]
I. 1. trans. To trouble, afflict or harass (a person, etc.) by aggression, encroachment or other interference with peace and quiet.
1426. Paston Lett., I. 26. I have nought trespassed ageyn noon of these iij,… and yet I am foule and noysyngly vexed with hem, to my gret unease.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 333. So on a day hym happend to com vnto a place þer a damysell was vexid with a fend.
1487. Munim. de Melros (Bann. Cl.), 618. I sall neuer inquiet, vex, nor distrubil þe said Abbot and conuent.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Macc. viii. 32. They slewe Philarches that wicked personne, which was with Timotheus, and had vexed many Iewes.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 184 b. He,… to thend he night vex the Turkes in an other quarter, was fully resolved to go foreward.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 383. By whose meanes I am so molested, vexed, & disquieted.
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 95. His Lordship hereupon had called the Counsellors to Tredagh,… to deliberate how the Army might be imployed most to vex Tyrone.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xxvi. 142. He does unjustly, and bewrayeth a disposition rather to vex other men, than to demand his own right.
1738. Wesley, Psalms, II. v. Then shall He in his Wrath address, And vex his baffled Enemies.
1821. Shelley, Adonais, xxxv. Let me not vex, with inharmonious sighs, The silence of that heart’s accepted sacrifice.
1845. Polson, in Encycl. Metrop., II. 723/1. When intestine divisions vex a state.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xxix. With such compelling cause to grieve As daily vexes household peace.
1887. Bowen, Æneid, VI. 111. A thousand arrows, that vexed our flight as we came, Safe from the ranks of the foemen.
b. Const. with (some action, etc.).
a. 1540. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 246/1. I wyll bryng you S. Augustines wordes, the which was vexed of the Donatistes wyth thys same reason.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 16 b. It was not sufficient…, this realme to be … vexed with the craftie practices and invencions of the Frenche men.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 126. They never ceased to vexe the Britans with skirmishes and in-roades.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 40. So did hee vexe the Church with various and interchangeable pomp of sufferances.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 801. These yelling Monsters … bursting forth Afresh with conscious terrours vex me round.
1827. Pollock, Course of Time, III. (1869), 62. Whom she praised to-day, Vexing his ear with acclamations loud.
c. To worry (one) out of something. rare–1.
1878. Prodigal Son, III. 103. Such openhanded fellows are not often to be found. So we must fasten on him, till we have stolen and vexed him out of all he has.
2. Of diseases, etc.: To afflict or distress physically; to affect with pain or suffering. Now poet.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., III. xxi. 219. To putte in pryson a man that is vexed with suche a maladie what a valyauntnes were it.
1509. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 300. To endure the moost paynful crampes soo greuously vexynge her.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 179 b. He was so sore vexed with the gout that he refused all suche solempnities.
1596. Mascall, Cattle, 208. Although they [sc. sheep] are housed, they are oftentimes vexed with cold.
a. 1614. Donne, Βιαθανατος (1644), 147. After the persecutors had beat out her teeth, and vexed her with many other tortures.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., I. vi. 42. Would You not wish to cure th’ acuter Pains, That rack thy tortur’d Side, or vex thy Reins?
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 582. Feigning sickness oft, They swathe the forehead, drag the limping limb, And vex their flesh with artificial sores.
1817. Keats, On the Sea, 9. Oh ye! who have your eye-balls vex’d and tir’d, Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea.
transf. 1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 22. It is most certaine, that Flaunders and Brabant are more vexed with colde and yce then England.
1718. Pope, Iliad, III. 5. When inclement winters vex the plain With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 169. Lightning and Inundation vexed the plains.
absol. a. 1614. D. Dyke, Myst. Self-Deceiving, 42. The stone … so bedded in the bladder, that it cannot greatly vexe.
3. To afflict with mental agitation or trouble; to make anxious or depressed; to distress deeply or seriously; to worry with anxiety or thought.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., clxxiv. Though that my spirit vexit was tofore In sueuenyng, alssone as euer I woke, By twenty fold it was in trouble more.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxix. 12. I walk, I turne, sleip may I nocht, I vexit am with havy thocht.
1535. Coverdale, Dan. v. 9. Then was the kynge sore afrayed,… and his lordes were sore vexed.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. v. 6. She … day and night did vexe her carefull thought, And euer more and more her owne affliction wrought.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 313. Vex not his ghost, O let him passe.
1651. C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., I. 83. Thus doe we see Christ to be on all sides so vexed, as being over-whelmed with desperation.
1806. Wordsw., Horn Egremont Castle, 55. It was a pang that vexed him then; And oft returned, again, and yet again.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. viii. 154. Most of us know what it is to vex our minds because we cannot recall some name, or trivial thing, which has escaped our memory for the moment.
1880. Watson, Prince’s Quest (1892), 15. There fell a sadness on him, thus to be Vext with desire of her he might not see, Yet could not choose but long for.
b. refl. (In later use passing into sense 4.)
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 128. Þis preste gretlie blamyd hym for his syn,… & þis man wexid hym [= himself] gretlie and slew hym.
1526. Tindale, John xi. 33. He grond in his spret and vexed hym silfe and sayde: Where have ye layed hym?
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 148. Not to eate our heartes: that is, that wee shoulde not vexe our selues with thoughts.
1611. Bible, 2 Sam. xii. 18. How will he then vexe himselfe, if we tell him that the childe is dead?
a. 1653. Binning, Serm. (1845), 123. Ye toil and vex yourselves and spend your time about that body and life.
1832. J. J. Blunt, Sk. Reform. Eng., ii. 35. He vexes himself because he cannot make a hundred watches go by his own.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, I. 41. Why will you vex yourself about your father?
c. To trouble, exercise or embarrass in respect of a solution.
1612. Brerewood, Lang. & Relig., 68. I could produce other forceable reasons, such as might … vex the best wit in the world to give them just solution.
1875. Markby, Elem. Law, § 531. No subject has vexed English judges more than the question, what remedy a debtor has for a wrongful … sale by a creditor of property which he holds as security.
4. To affect with a feeling of dissatisfaction, annoyance or irritation; to cause (one) to fret, grieve or feel unhappy.
a. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 57. Þe forme woman Eue vexude God more þen dyd man.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 33. This wexit him mair nor all the troubillis that he had or befoir, and [he] was the mair crabbit with him sellffe [etc.].
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 66. Away, I say: stayest thou to vexe me here? Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., II. iv. 130. They vexe me past my patience.
1662. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 182. It vexes my very soul to heare how the base bumpkins triumph.
1676. Hobbes, Iliad, I. 312. Which, angry as he is, will vexe him worse.
1710. Swift, Lett. (1767), III. 37. The bishop … complains of my not writing; and what vexes me, says he knows you have long letters from me every week.
1714. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to W. Montagu (1887), I. 95. Your letter very much vexed me.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, X. viii. (Rtldg.), 358. Nothing vexes me, but that Antonia has not a thumping fortune to bring with her.
1835. Politeness & Gd.-breeding, 28. This boy or girl … who never sneers at or jeers you, or tries to vex your feelings.
1892. Law Rep., Weekly Notes, 188/1. The defendant had been maliciously making noises for the mere purpose of vexing and annoying the plaintiffs.
b. In pa. pple., freq. const. at or with.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxi. 187. Sir, ye ar vexed at all, And perauentur he shall here after pleas you.
1555. Phaër, Æneid, II. 31. For amends to Pallas wrath, so vext with sore offence.
1611. Cotgr., Se Marrir, to grieue, or sorrow for,… be sad, or vexed at.
1664. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 204. I am slepy and vexet, and now I fear I have vexed you.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 165, ¶ 6. The Curate…, upon the reading of it, being vexed to see any thing he could not understand.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. iii. Wks. 1874, I. 55. That inward feeling, which,… in familiar speech, we call being vexed with oneself.
1783. Johnson, in Boswell, Life, 15 May. I would have knocked the factious dogs on the head, to be sure; but I was not vexed.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, ii. 26. He was amused at some of his foibles, vexed at others.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. v. A little vexed that she had spoken precipitately.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. I am always vexed with people who don’t care what they eat.
c. To irritate or tease (an animal).
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 19 Sept. 1657. 2 Virginian rattle-snakes,… when vexed, swiftly vibrating and shaking their tailes.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1851), II. 1002/2. She vexed and pricked it [an asp] with a golden spindle till it seized her arm.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, I. iv. Vex not too far the lion, chained though he be.
5. intr. To be distressed in mind; to feel unhappy or dissatisfied; to fret or grieve. Also const. at.
Common in the 17th cent.; now rare or Obs.
1592. Greene, Groat’s W. Wit, Wks. (Grosart), XII. 122. A yong Gentleman,… vexing that the sonne of a farmer should be so preferred, cast in his minde by what meanes … he might steale away the Bride.
1598. Marston, Scourge of Villanie, III. viii. (1599), 214. I doe sadly grieue, and inly vexe, To viewe the base dishonour of our sexe.
1621. Lady M. Wroth, Urania, 346. If … we should faile, I should hate my selfe, and vexe incessantly at my fortune.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxxiii. (1687), 412. It makes us vex if we be crossed in the least of our desires.
a. 1672. Wilkins, Nat. Relig., 257. Men usually vex and repine at that which is extraordinary and unusual.
1770. Mrs. Thrale, Lett. to Johnson (1788), I. 31. Mr. Thrale particularly vexes lest you should not see Matlock on a moon-light night.
1804. Charlotte Smith, Conversations, etc., I. 137. But since it is so,… I must not vex about it.
II. 6. trans. To disturb by causing physical movement, commotion or alteration; to agitate, toss about, work, belabor or tear up, etc.
1627. Hakewill, Apol. (1630), 151. Even there where they [the minerals] are most vexed and wrought upon, yet are they not worne out.
1666. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., ccvii. Some English wool, vex’d in a Belgian Loom, And into Cloth of spungy softness made. Ibid. (1697), Virg. Past., IV. 40. And sharpen’d Shares shall vex the fruitful ground.
1759. Mills, trans. Duhamel’s Husb., I. viii. 20. Clay…. In these cases laxatives are to be prescribed,… and continually vexing it with the spade or plow.
1775. Burke, Sp. Concil. Amer., Wks. 1842, I. 186. No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, VII. vii. Some calm wave Vexed into whirlpools by the chasms beneath.
1861. T. A. Trollope, La Beata, II. xviii. 213. Well sheltered from the blasts that even in summer vex the upper Apennine.
1879. J. D. Long, Æneid, VII. 905. His followers they, who vex The Massic glebe, so fruitful of the vine.
b. To disturb by handling; to twist. rare.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 35. He exalts his superciliums and vexes his formal beard.
c. fig. To press, strain or urge.
1678. Marvell, Def. J. Howe, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 191. I would not too much vex the similitude.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 218. Distinctions,… By b’ing too nicely overstrain’d and vext, Have made the Comment harder than the Text.
7. To subject (a matter) to prolonged or severe examination or discussion; to debate at excessive length.
a. 1614. Donne, Βιαθανατος (1644), 20. The best way to finde the truth in this matter, was to debate and vexe it.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1683), 243. I shall now come to the business of the Divorce; so much vexed by our Writers.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xli. Be that as it may; and not vexing a question (settled for ever without our votes), let us own that he was, at least, a … gentleman.
1877. R. F. Burton, in Athenæum, 3 Nov., 569/1. Upon this point I must join issue with him, with Stanley, and with others who have vexed the subject.
