1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres i. 6 He will neuer ranke them aright without helpe; and (God knoweth) with what puzzeling and toyle.

1647 N. Ward Serm. before House of Commons 13 There is nothing but contradiction and prevarication, objections interjections, puzlings and counterpuzlings, pluranimities and pluranimosities amongst them.

1662 R. L'Estrange Memento i. x. 185 Sir Francis Bacon proposes..the Puzzling of him, with an Enterchange of Favours, and Disgraces, that he may not know what to Expect.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. xl. 232 With the sweat of our brows, and to the puzzling of our brains..do we earn our purchase.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby vii. 64 After great difficulty and much puzzling, he contrived to read.

1874 J. S. Blackie On Self-culture 28 You can find out for yourself by a little puzzling why the three angles of a triangle..must be equal to two right angles.

1907 Athenæum 1 June 662/1 The puzzling of the Russians by rumour that the turning-flank-march of the Japanese was first by the Russian left.

1957 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 7 Dec. (1995) 263 I..can save a translator a good deal of time and puzzling.

2003 Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune (Nexis) 13 Dec. a17 It occurs to me, after a great deal of puzzling, that this could be precisely what's gone wrong with the Republicans.

1638 R. West To Pious Memory T. Randolph in T. Randolph Poems sig. ***4^v He could untie, not break, the subtlest knot Their puzling Art could weave.

1648 S. Rutherford Surv. Spirituall Antichrist ii. lxx. 149 Yet must we not fancie that the way is shorter then Christ hath made it, and that it is not a puzling worke to flesh and bloud.

1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall v. 71 What Song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, though puzling Questions are not beyond all conjecture.

1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 60 The various Turnings..of this Labyrinth, render it extremely intricate and puzzling.

1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy IV. xii. 103 Of all the puzzling riddles, said he, in a marriage state..there is not one that has more intricacies in it than this.

1855 C. Kingsley Argonauts in Heroes 176 This is a puzzling matter.

1872 H. I. Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lake District (1879) 204 The summit of the mountain is most puzzling and dangerous.

1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman x. 110 A puzzling number of people still like to exhibit their scars.

1973 Geogr. Rev. 139 361 Sarmiento's final puzzling decision to leave his starving troops..seems just as odd today.

2006 Business Week (Nexis) 24 July 59 They encountered a few computer glitches and at times got some puzzling feedback.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables liii The Servant, says he, is a Puzzling Fool that heeds nothing.

1735 W. Somervile Chace ii. 202 The puzzling Pack unravel Wile by Wile, Maze within Maze.

1871 J. S. Blackie Four Phases Morals i. 96 Certain precise and puzzling minds.

1902 S. Phillips Ulysses i. ii. 58 Steady pouring slumber from the waves, Wave after wave upon the puzzling brain.

2000 Evening Standard (Nexis) 21 July 34 A simple enquiry into the nature of proportion, that intrigues the puzzling mind with simple counterpoints of solid form and matching void.

a1847 G. Aguilar Vale of Cedars (1851) xix. 136 From the assertion that she did hear a slight sound, though puzzlingly cross-questioned, she never wavered.

1881 M. A. Lewis Two Pretty Girls III. 87 A puzzlingly unamiable trait in her friend's character.

1944 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 5 215 This proposition is, indeed, somewhat puzzlingly expressed.

1969 Soviet Stud. 21 99 The interpretation of the recent past (recent in the memory of the aging but puzzlingly remote to those born after 1945).

2006 Daily Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 13 June 20 Saying something is ‘asymmetric warfare’ is so bewilderingly inexplicable, so puzzlingly obtuse.

1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Puzzlingness, perplexedness, embarrassing Quality.

1955 J. Wain Interpretations 235 Everything..depends on a kind of precision and balance, combined also with a certain puzzlingness, in the poet's use of words.

2000 Irish Times (Nexis) 17 June 68 ‘Thaw’ provides a miniature instance of Sweeney's characteristic puzzlingness.