# vex
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vexāre (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Doublet of quake. Displaced native Old English dreċċan and gremman.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: vĕks, IPA: /vɛks/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛks

### Verb

vex (third-person singular simple present vexes, present participle vexing, simple past and past participle vexed or (archaic) vext)
* (transitive) To annoy, irritate.
    Synonyms: agitate, irk, irritate; see also Thesaurus:annoy
    Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
** 1980, AA book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:The first thing that greets you on entering the church is a notice asking you not to vex the goat, since it renders valuable service in keeping the churchyard tidy.
* (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
    Synonyms: afflict, grame, torment; see also Thesaurus:vex
** 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 151:I will not again vex her ear with words of love, however true, however deep: ours is an evil destiny, and we may not control it!
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XLI, page 64:I vex my heart with fancies dim: ⁠He still outstript me in the race; ⁠It was but unity of place That made me dream I rank’d with him.
* (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
    Synonyms: beset, hassle; see also Thesaurus:pester
** 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts xij:[1], folio clxxj, verso:In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ, to vexe them.
* (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.
** 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom
* (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
    Synonyms: chafe, fume
** 1613, George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois:Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought
* (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
** 1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.

#### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:vex.

#### Derived terms

* vexation
* vexatious
* vexed
* vexer
* vexingly

#### Related terms

* quake
* vexatious

#### Descendants

* → Welsh: becso

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

vex (plural vexes)
* (Scotland, obsolete) A trouble.

### References

* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “vex”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Middle English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

vex
* Alternative form of wax (“wax”)

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

vex
* Alternative form of vexen

## Old Norse
### Verb

vex
* first/second/third-person singular present active indicative of vaxa