Mazes

:* A structure designed as a puzzle, consisting of a complicated network of winding and interconnecting paths or passages, only one of which is the correct route through; a labyrinth; (occas. in pl.) the windings of a labyrinth. Also (as in quot. 1903): a structure comprising two points joined by a single winding line much greater in length than the direct line between the two points.

:* A structure designed as a puzzle, consisting of a complicated network of winding and interconnecting paths or passages, only one of which is the correct route through; a labyrinth; (occas. in pl.) the windings of a labyrinth. Also (as in quot. 1903): a structure comprising two points joined by a single winding line much greater in length than the direct line between the two points.

:*In extended use: a complex network of paths or streets; a bewildering mass of things (material or immaterial), in which the individual components are difficult to separate or make out.

:*In extended use: a complex network of paths or streets; a bewildering mass of things (material or immaterial), in which the individual components are difficult to separate or make out.

The first definition offers a strict description of a kind of puzzle object; the second, more metaphorical. Yet popular usage has stretched the term to cover intellectual puzzles, legal code, and confusing spaces of all sorts.

The first definition offers a strict description of a kind of puzzle object; the second, more metaphorical. Yet popular usage has stretched the term to cover intellectual puzzles, legal code, and confusing spaces of all sorts.