/lab"euh rinth/ , n.
1. an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit.
2. a maze of paths bordered by high hedges, as in a park or garden, for the amusement of those who search for a way out.
3. a complicated or tortuous arrangement, as of streets or buildings.
4. any confusingly intricate state of things or events; a bewildering complex.
5. ( cap. ) Class. Myth. a vast maze built in Crete by Daedalus, at the command of King Minos, to house the Minotaur.
6. Anat.
a. the internal ear, consisting of a bony portion (bony labyrinth) and a membranous portion (membranous labyrinth) .
b. the aggregate of air chambers in the ethmoid bone, between the eye and the upper part of the nose.
7. a mazelike pattern inlaid in the pavement of a church.
8. a loudspeaker enclosure with air chambers at the rear for absorbing sound waves radiating in one direction so as to prevent their interference with waves radiated in another direction.
[ 1540-50; labyrinthus labýrinthos; r. earlier laborynt laborintus, L, as above ]