puzzle
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: The verb, of uncertain origin, is attested first. Apparently cognate with Scots pousle, pouzle, poozle (“to trifle; poke or potter around aimlessly; search about with uncertainty”), Saterland Frisian puzelje (“to work hard and continuously”), West Frisian peuzelje (“to trifle, work slowly; eat slowly and daintifully, snack”), Dutch peuzelen (“to perform insignificant work, dawdle; pick at, eat with relish in small pieces, snack”), German Low German pusseln (“to tinker, fiddle; trifle”) and pöseln (“to work hard, toil; to slave away; suffer at work; work slowly and ineffectively”), German posseln, bosseln (“to perform trivial work, tinker”), Danish pusle (“to busy oneself with light work or chores; to be occupied with a task requiring ingenuity, care, and patience; to tinker”), Swedish pyssla (“to do light work; tinker; putter or potter around”), Norwegian Nynorsk pusla, putla (“to potter about”), Faroese putla (“to trifle; potter about; do one's work slowly; be dilatory”), Faroese puss (“damage, trick”).
* An early form of the word is pusle, which is similar to Old English puslian (“to pick out the best bits, carefully select, cull”). It is possible that the meaning of the word evolved from “to pick out the best bits”, to “to think long and carefully in bewilderment while choosing what to pick out”, to “to think long and carefully in bewilderment”. However, there is no evidence in Middle English or modern English of any intermediate words with these meanings.
* Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word is from pose (“(obsolete) to interrogate, question”) + -le (frequentative suffix). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that early forms of the word are all spelled with -u-, and that a sound change in Middle English from ō to u “is not easily accounted for”.
* Finally, it has been suggested that the past participle form of the word is attested by Middle English poselet. This is thought to be unlikely by the Oxford English Dictionary as poselet is attested in only one quotation with the meaning “jostled, pushed”, which does not have any connection with the current senses of the word.
The noun appears to be derived from the verb.
Base: pose
Affixes: -le
Inflected forms:
form: puzzles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: puzzling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: puzzle
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: puzzle
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: puzzle
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: puzzlest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: puzzledst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: puzzles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: puzzleth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: puzzle
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: puzzle
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: puzzle
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: puzzling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: puzzled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To cause (oneself or someone, or their mind, etc.) to feel confused or mystified because they cannot understand a complicated matter, a problem, etc.; to confuse, to mystify, to perplex.
pos: verb
tags: also
reflexive
transitive
examples: Mens daily occaſions for themſelves or friends, and the neceſities of common life, require the doing of a thouſand things vvithin the compaſs of a fevv dayes, for vvhich it vvould puzzle the beſt Textman that liveth; readily to bethink himself of a ſentence in the Bible, clear enough to ſatisfie a ſcrupulous conſcience of the lavvfulneſs and expediency of vvhat he is about to do; […]
[H]e has a very ſmart VVit, and is a very ſhrevvd Diſputant in thoſe Points himſelf ſeems moſt puzzled in, and is therein very dexterous in puzzling others, if they be not thorough-paced Speculators in thoſe great Theories.
Nor is it sufficient that a man, who sets up for a judge in criticism, should have perused the authors above-mentioned, unless he has also a clear and logical head. Without this talent he is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders, mistakes the sense of those he would confute, or, if he chances to think right, does not know how to convey his thoughts to another with clearness and perspicuity.
After they had puzzled themſelves here, as I ſaid, tvvo or three Days, one of the Lieutenants and a Man vvith him, ſeeing a Hut or Houſe of a Chilian at ſome Diſtance, rode avvay tovvards it; […]
This ſort of Arguments I have alvvays found dry and jejune; and, as they are not ſuited to my vvay of Thinking, they may perhaps puzzle, but never vvill convince me.
Vain ſcience! thou aſſiſts us in no caſe of this kind—and thou puzzleſt us in every one.
"Really, Mr. Collins," cried Elizabeth with some warmth, "you puzzle me exceedingly. If what I have hitherto said can appear to you in the form of encouragement, I know not how to express my refusal in such a way as may convince you of its being one."
Still, this matter of the sails much puzzleth me, and I have often felt a desire to go from one port to another, by sea, in order to witness it.
[T]he court, thus pushed, tried words, and said everything it could think of to fill the time, […] like a schoolmaster puzzled by a hard sum, who reads the context with emphasis.
The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.
The study of Classical mythology amused him and he made an enormous genealogical chart, in circular form, with the stems raying out from our earliest ancestor Chaos, the father of Father Time, and spreading to a confused perimeter thickly strewn with nymphs and kinds and heroes. He used to delight in puzzling the mythological experts, […]
You're alone all the time / Does it ever puzzle you? / Have you asked why you seem to fall in love, out again? / Do you ever really love, or just pretend?
When it comes to God's existence, I'm not an atheist and I'm not an agnostic. I'm an acrostic. The whole thing puzzles me.
gloss: To use (one's brain or mind) to try to work out a complicated matter, a problem, etc.; also, to try to work out (a complicated matter, a problem, etc.).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: VVhich puſles the braine, and doth confound the ſence, / VVhich makes vs rather beare thoſe euilles vve haue, / Than flie to others that vve knovv knot of.
VVhat haſt thou to do vvith Thought? Mind thy ovvn Buſineſs, and never puzzle thy Noddle vvith Thought.
[…] I can't deny the mark upon his cheek, though I may puzzle the question between right and left. He may, or he may not, be Demetrius: […]
Every time a woman wants to do well by her darling, she puzzles her brain to cipher out some scheme for getting it into my hands.
Though I was angry with old Cotter for alluding to me as a child I puzzled my head to extract meaning from his unfinished sentences.
gloss: To (intentionally) make (something) complicated or confused, and so difficult to resolve or understand; to confuse, to complicate.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: [T]hey are theſe Talkative Fools, vvhoſe Religion is only in vvord, and are debauched and vain in their Converſation, that (being ſo much admitted into the fellovv-ſhip of the godly) do puzzle the VVorld, blemiſh Chriſtianity, and grieve the ſincere.
[H]e vvas heard vvith great attention, though his Parts vvere moſt prevalent in puzzling and perplexing that diſcourſe he meant to croſs.
The VVays of Heav'n are dark and intricate, / Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext vvith Errors; / Our Underſtanding traces 'em in vain, / Loſt and bevvilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]
Now this indifference puzzled Lady Penelope's game extremely, and irritated her desire to get at the bottom of Tyrrel's mystery, if there was one, and secure him to her own party.
gloss: To cause (someone) to not know what to do due to some problem, situation, etc.; to bewilder, to confound, to perplex.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: I ſay there is no darkneſſe but ignorance, in vvhich thou art more puzel'd then the Ægyptians in their fogge.
[W]e found ground at forty fadomes, many Snakes ſvvimming about our ſhips, vvhich (vvith the vvaters changing colour) aſſured us vve vvere neere the ſhoare (the laſt ſtorme had puzled us) […]
Benevolence? vvhich ſhall I be benevolent to; or vvhich firſt? I am puſſell'd in the choice.
VVhen the Turtle come aſhore, the Man that vvatches for them turns them on their backs, then hales them above high vvater mark, and leave them till the morning. A large Green Turtle vvith her vveight and ſtruggling vvill puzzle 2 Men to turn her.
gloss: Often followed by about, over, or upon: to feel confused or mystified because one cannot understand a complicated matter, a problem, etc.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: Often followed by about, over, or or upon: to think deeply in bewilderment to try to work out a complicated matter, a problem, etc.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: We puzzled over the curious-shaped lock, but were unable to discover how the key should be inserted.
[B]oth I my ſelfe and divers vvhom I knovv, have pored and puſled vpon many an old Record and Evidence to ſatisfie our ſelves herein: […]
[O]ur Advocate, vvho puzzling on, betvveen his true and falſe Gods, hangs, like a falſe Teacher as he is, betvveen Heaven and Earth, in the Fool's Paradiſe of Pagan Philoſophy.
gloss: To search in a confused or mystified manner.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: But what, are you puzzling in your pockets to seek your only memorial among old play bills, letters requesting a meeting of the Faculty, rules of the Speculative Society, syllabus' of lectures—all the miscellaneous contents of a young lawyer's pocket, which contains every thing but brieves and bank-notes?
gloss: Followed by through: to solve a complicated matter, a problem, etc., by working through confusing or difficult matters.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Derived words: unpuzzle
bepuzzle
empuzzle
puzzleation
puzzled
puzzlement
puzzle-monkey
puzzle out
puzzle over
puzzler
puzzle through
puzzlewit
puzzling
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: askarruttaa
lang: Finnish
word: pähkäillä
lang: Finnish
word: pohdiskella