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Perturb

//pəˈtɜːb// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed; to cause confusion. transitive

    "Mary therefore the more knaue art thou I ſay / That perturbeſt the worde of god I ſay […]"

  2. 2
    throw into great confusion or disorder wordnet
  3. 3
    To disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally; to bother, trouble, upset. transitive

    "[…] I have often found / The truth thereof, in my private paſſions: / For I doe never feele my ſelfe perturb'd / VVith any generall vvords 'gainſt my profeſſion, / They doe avvake, and ſtirre me: […]"

  4. 4
    disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed wordnet
  5. 5
    Of a celestial body: to modify the motion or orbit of (another celestial body) by exerting a gravitational force; hence (physics), to slightly modify (the motion of an object). transitive
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  1. 6
    cause a celestial body to deviate from a theoretically regular orbital motion, especially as a result of interposed or extraordinary gravitational pull wordnet
  2. 7
    To slightly modify (a set of equations or their solutions), producing deviations from a simple, easily solvable problem, in order to find an approximate solution to a problem that is more difficult to solve or otherwise unsolvable. transitive
  3. 8
    disturb or interfere with the usual path of an electron or atom wordnet
  4. 9
    To influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state. transitive
  5. 10
    To bother, to disturb, to trouble. intransitive

    "Thy ghoſt O father ſweete, thy greuous ghoſt, / Perturbing in my dremes hath me compeld to ſee this coaſt."

Etymology

From Late Middle English perturben (“to disturb (someone) mentally, disquiet; to cause disorder to (something), confuse; to hinder (something)”), from Old French perturber, and from its etymon Latin perturbāre, the present active infinitive of perturbō (“to confuse; to alarm, disturb, trouble, perturb”), from per- (intensifying prefix) + turbō (“to agitate, disturb, unsettle, perturb; to upset”) (from turba (“disorder, disturbance, turmoil”) (possibly from Ancient Greek τῠ́ρβη (tŭ́rbē, “confusion, disorder, tumult”), either from Pre-Greek, or Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to agitate, stir up; to urge on, propel”)) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of regular first-conjugation verbs)).

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