vexedadj.n.

?c1425 Wise Bk. Philos. Astron. (Columbia Univ. Plimpton) (2013) 18 The Mone, is..a gladner of weyfarynge men, of vexed [c1475 Cambr. Ll.4.14 vixid] men a releuer.

?1530 R. Whitford Werke for Housholders sig. C.vi^v Sholde ye neuer do ony maner of correccyon whyle you ben vexed, chafed, troubled, wroth or angry for any cause.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Dan. v. B Then was the kynge sore afrayed,..and his lordes were sore vexed.

1606 Returne from Pernassus ii. i. sig. C2^v O how it greeues my vexed soule to see, Each painted asse in chayre of dignitye.

1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. (Jer. xvii. 9) vii. 86 They..are vexed for the durting of their linnen, or some such trifle.

1653 F. G. tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Artamenes I. iii. i. 44 She was so vexed to be so mistaken, that she did really entertain an aversion to me.

1664 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) II. 204 I am slepy and vexet, and now I fear I have vexed you.

1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. iii. 51 That inward Feeling, which,..in familiar Speech, we call being vexed with oneself.

1754 S. Bowden tr. Martial in Poems Var. Subj. 78 The vext Rhinoceros prepares for fight.

1835 Daily Evening News (Jeffersonville, Indiana) 9 Sept. Chief McCoy, of the Fire Department is very much vexed over the refusal of citizens to allow the new fire ladders to be placed on the side of their buildings.

1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iii. v. 39 A little vexed..that she had spoken precipitately.

1872 ‘W. Niles’ Five Hundred Majority i. xiii. 80/1 Although fearfully vexed lest she had discovered his embarrassment and suspected its cause, [etc.].

1882 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 31 Jan. I agree, but must feel vexed about it, though.

1904 S. R. Crockett Strong Mac xxxix. 324 Ebenezer Sinclair wad be sair vexed to see ony that belonged to ye gangin' that road.

1948 R. G. B. Gorell John Keats i. 24 Keats..had a clear-eyed greatness of vision which would have made him both satirical and vexed at the uncritical adulation heaped upon him.

1961 Soviet Lit. Monthly 3 50 Pinching his side whiskers testily and feeling thoroughly vexed with Benediktin, Velikanov slipped the letter back into its envelope and tossed it into a drawer.

2013 Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 23/2 Answering phone calls from vexed relatives.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 509 Vexid, vexatus.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. clxxix^v He was so sore vexed with the gout that he refused all suche solempnities.

1563 A. Neville in B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. A.iii^v Let mortall hate,..let flamyng torments broyle, Within theyr greuous vexed brests.

1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus (new ed.) sig. Tj ^v If you will..kepe me still aliue in vexed plighte, for some offence I haue committed, then shew [etc.].

1592 T. Kyd Spanish Trag. iii. sig. E2 The night..With direfull visions wake my vexed soule.

1645 A. Wood Life & Times (1891) I. 121 Col. Legge charged them so gallantly that the rebels ran back... Yet farr had they not gone, before these vexed rebels came on againe.

1651 C. Cartwright Certamen Religiosum i. 83 Thus doe we see Christ to be on all sides so vexed, as being over-whelmed with desperation.

1675 J. Stewart Accompt Scotlands Grievances (new ed.) 49 The countrey haveing, now for 13. years, been so vexed and harassed.

1772 Ann. Reg. 1771 Nat. Hist. 95/2 The Black Snakes seldom do any harm, except in spring, when they copulate; but if any body comes in their way at that time, they are so much vexed, as to pursue him as fast as they can.

1786 R. Jones Two Funeral Serm. 29 Is he [sc. man] sent hither to carry about with him a pained body, or a vexed heart?

1816 P. B. Shelley Sunset 43 The tomb of thy dead self Which one vexed ghost inhabits.

1870 J. H. Burton Hist. Scotl. to 1688 VI. lxx. 491 He thus was chosen to settle the vexed affairs of Scotland.

a1938 T. Wolfe You can't go Home Again (1940) xxxi. 503 We have freed ourselves of all degrading vanities,..we are clear at last of all that vexed, corrupted earth.

1954 D. Thomson People of Sea iv. 88 He was vexed and sick with the drink.

1974 Guardian 9 Jan. 11/3 It appeared at that vexed time of the Party Whip being withdrawn from five Labour MPs.

2002 M. Webber in M. Webber & M. Smith Foreign Policy in Transformed World ii. vi. 167 One key issue that characterised the earlier, more vexed period of relations was that of nuclear weapons.

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iii. l. 181 (MED) The scabby branches & the vexid [c1450 Bodl. Add. wexed; L. vexatus] rootes To cutte avay..bote is.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (BL Add. 9066) (1879) 298 (MED) The maiden wexe slepie, and sore vexed, and fille on slepe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 230 Where once Thou calldst me vp..to fetch dewe From the still-vext Bermoothes.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 660 Vex'd Scylla bathing in the Sea that parts Calabria from the hoarce Trinacrian shore. View more context for this quotation

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 314 A ridge of pendent Rock Over the vext Abyss. View more context for this quotation

1720 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad V. xviii. 549 The pond'rous Hammer loads his better Hand, His left with Tongs turns the vex'd Metal round.

1790 J. Baillie Poems 118 The vexed forest, tossing wide, Uprooted strews its fairest pride.

1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna i. i. 1 The peak of an aërial promontory, Whose caverned base with the vext surge was hoary.

1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 21 What time the Chalcian strand Saw the vexed Argive masts In Aulis tides.

1852 G. W. Curtis Lotos-eating viii. 117 The vexed river rages and tumbles among channeled rocks.

1911 C. E. H. Whiton-Stone In Portuguese Garden 175 O'er the peevish sky the vexed clouds go.

1969 D. Davie Essex Poems 3 One long arm of the cold vexed sea of the North.

1999 A. Wheatle Brixton Rock 38 It was half an hour until noon on a grey day with a vexed breeze.

2006 S. Vickers Other Side of You (2007) iii. 20 He hung out, madder than the vexed sea.

1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor i. iii. 56 Constantin's Donation (a vext question).

1657 P. Heylyn Ecclesia Vindicata 215 Nor do I mean to meddle in so vexed a question.

1743 Swinburne's Treat. Test. & Last Wills (ed. 6) vii. x. 506 What shall be the Conclusion of this vexed question?

1828 Philos. Mag. 2nd Ser. 4 364 More pressing employments compel me at present to abstain from the discussion of this ‘much-vexed’ topic, to which he so obligingly invites me.

1832 J. Kent Comm. Amer. Law (ed. 2) IV. vi. lviii. 154 (note) The question, whether taking a bond or bill destroyed the lien, has been quite a vexed one in the books.

1847 Brit. Amer. Jrnl. Med. & Physical Sci. Apr. 318/2 Life! this is my topic. It is..a trite, mooted, vexed subject.

1874 J. P. Mahaffy Social Life Greece ii. 9 The great vexed question of the origin and composition of the Homeric poems.

1927 E. V. Knox Awful Occasions 58 The vexed topic of dandelions as a diet for half bred Angoras.

1972 Jrnl. Mod. Lit. 2 459 I would like to take up the vexed question of the notes to the poem and Eliot's use of ‘sources’.

1985 Financial Times 10 July 4/1 The talks..broke down essentially over the vexed issue of sovereignty over the islands.

2011 Independent 14 Dec. 18/5 Not a mention of ‘slurping’ in your voluminous correspondence on the vexed question of how soup is consumed.

1745 Agreeable Compan. 143 The vex'd in Mind, The puff'd with Wind, Do all come here pell mell in.

1787 J. Hawkins & J. Richardson Polit. Miscellanies Pt. 1st 100 The part of the vexed is to cherish vexation.

1824 T. Campbell Theodric 193 Hers was the brow..That cheered the sad, and tranquillized the vexed.

1883 Sunday Mag. Mar. 207/1 The vexed are deaf to the angels.

1923 A. J. Wensinck tr. Isaac of Niveveh Mystic Treat. lxxi. 383 And who despises the cry of the vexed, may the sons of his house grope in darkness.

2008 Independent 6 Sept. And don't we call those who can't stop drifting into emotional intimacy promiscuous, which sets up a nice little circle of sex addiction, from which none of us—neither the imperturbable nor the vexed—can ever claim to be free.

a1670 J. Hacket Cent. Serm. (1675) 402 The terrour of endless Wrath to come, and unspeakable vexedness to be deprived of the vision of Gods glory.

1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xx. 90 My teazing uncle broke out into a loud laugh, which..had more of vexedness than mirth in it.

1839 R. F. Williams Youth of Shakespeare (new ed.) vi. 76 He stood..with hands and eyes uplifted, watching with some vexedness in his aspect, the swift retreat of the enticing insect over the hedge.

1909 W. J. Locke Septimus xi. 160 Zora, regarding the egoist with mingled admiration and vexedness, could only say, ‘Oh!’

2009 Daily Mail (Nexis) 28 Aug. Since hypochondria is more or less defined by its position on the borderline between the physical and the psychological, its very vexedness is central to its interest.