Link Centre Dictionary

puzzle

UK/ˈpʊzəl/ US/ˈpʌzəl/ fairly common
verb (2) noun (2)

verb

1.

be a mystery or bewildering to

  • “This beats me!”
  • “Got me--I don”
  • “;”
  • “;”
Synonyms
2.

be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide

  • “We puzzled over her sudden departure”

noun

1.

a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution

  • “he loved to solve chessmate puzzles”
  • “that”
Synonyms
2.

a toy that tests your ingenuity

Origin

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 ...

Phrases

  • lawyer's puzzle
  • monkey puzzle
  • piece of the puzzle
  • puzzle box
  • puzzle canon
  • puzzle cube
  • puzzle feeder
  • puzzle game
  • puzzle out
  • puzzle over
  • puzzle through

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.