Labyrinth
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) An inextricable or bewildering difficulty.
(2): ( n.) The internal ear. See Note under Ear.
(3): ( n.) Any intricate or involved inclosure; especially, an ornamental maze or inclosure in a park or garden.
(4): ( n.) An edifice or place full of intricate passageways which render it difficult to find the way from the interior to the entrance; as, the Egyptian and Cretan labyrinths.
(5): ( n.) Any object or arrangement of an intricate or involved form, or having a very complicated nature.
(6): ( n.) A pattern or design representing a maze, - often inlaid in the tiled floor of a church, etc.
(7): ( n.) A series of canals through which a stream of water is directed for suspending, carrying off, and depositing at different distances, the ground ore of a metal.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
A name given to sundry structures composed of winding passages so intricate as to render it difficult to find the way out, and sometimes in. Of these structures the most remarkable were those of Egypt and of Crete. The Egyptian to the E. of Lake Moeris, consisted of an endless number of dark chambers, connected by a maze of passages into which it was difficult to find entrance; and the Cretan, built by Dædalus, at the instance of Minos, to imprison the Minotaur, out of which one who entered could not find his way out again unless by means of a skein of thread. It was by means of this, provided him by Ariadne , Perseus ( q. v .) found his way out after slaying the Minotaur ( q. v .).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
At St. Bertin's, in St. Omer, there was one of those curious floors, representing the Temple of Jerusalem, with stations for pilgrims, and actually visited and traversed by them as a compromise for not going to the Holy Land in fulfilment of a vow. The labyrinth at Sens was destroyed in 1768; those of Arras and Amiens shared the same fate in 1825. There is a round labyrinth in the centre of the nave of Chartres, inlaid with lead; another, of encaustic tiles, in the chapter-house of Bayeux; and a third, of octagonal shape, in the nave of St. Quentin.
