Puzzle

Certainly, Men in Great Fortunes, are ſtrangers to themſelues, and vvhile they are in the puſle of buſineſſe, they haue no time to tend their Health, either of Body, or Minde.

She stopt, felt herself getting into a puzzle, and could not be prevailed on to add another word, not by dint of several minutes of supplication and waiting.

My lady—your ladyship. It sounds very strange, and as if it was not natural. I never thought of it before; but, now you have named it, I am all in a puzzle.

Where he went after he left the house is a puzzle.

To the laſt puzzle propounded, vvhether theſe Archei [vital forces believed to be responsible for alchemical reactions within living bodies] be ſo many ſprigs of the common Soul of the vvorld, or particular ſubſiſtencies of themſelves; there is no great inconvenience in acknovvledging that it may be either vvay.

About the painting I have a great puzzle in my head between [George] Vertue, Mr. D'Urry, and Bishop Tanner [Thomas Tanner?].

He is a puzzle to the servants, who are fearful of being too obsequious, or not civil enough, to him.

He went away on the word, leaving me with a new mystery to think of, a new puzzle to grapple with.

Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to the male. Murder might be condoned or explained, and yet some smaller offence might rankle.

crossword puzzle    jigsaw puzzle

Upon the whole, he [a person in a cave] looked not unlike that ingenious puzzle, called a reel in a bottle, the marvel of children, (and of some grown people too, myself for one,) who can neither comprehend the mystery how it has got in, or how it is to be taken out.

Among other monstrosities in this lumber room was a largeish black japanned box, excellently and ingeniously made some sixty or seventy years ago, and fitted with every imaginable object. […] Everything was perfectly new, and the whole thing, when shut up, was as big as a small, but fat week-end bag. And inside, it fitted together like a puzzle.

So I ſent for a carpenter, on the receipt of your recipe, and had a large Puzzle of Oak made for him [a dog], after the pattern of thoſe vvorn by the Squire's Pointers; and I have found it anſvver prodigiouſly.

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, […]

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.

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.

[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.

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.

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.

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?