gordian

[Named after Gordius, a half mythic king of Phrygia, father of Midas.] Of or pertaining to Gordius, or the knot tied by him; hence, intricate, complicated. "She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue." Keats: Lamia, i. gordian-knot, s. A knot tied by Gordius in the rope which bound the yoke of his chariot to the draught-tree in such an artful manner that the ends of the cord could not be perceived. So intricate was it that the report went abroad that the empire of Asia was promised by the oracle to him who could untie it. Alexander the Great, wishing to inspire his soldiers with courage and his enemies with the belief that he was born to conquer Asia, cut the knot with his sword, and so claimed to have fulfilled the oracle. Hence, the term gordian - knot is used for any apparently inextricable difficulty or deadlock; and to cut the gordian - knot is equivalent to removing or solving a difficulty by bold or unusual measures. "Whatsoever it was, I must be fain to leave it as a Gordian-knot, which no writer helps me to untie."- Baker : King Stephen (an. 1154). "Locks *gor-di-an, v . t . [GORDIAN, a.] To knot or tie up. simply gordianed up and braided." Keats: Endymion, bk. i. gor'-di-ŭs ( pl . gor'-dl-1), s. [GORDIAN.] Zool.: The typical genus of the order Gordiaceae (q. v.). It consists of those extraordinarily thin and long inhabitants of the water, popularly believed, at least till recently, to be animated horsehairs, and producible by the simple proce of putting horse-hairs into a pond, ditch, or country well. After a time they bore their way into the bodies of insects. When mature they quit their insect residence and, returning to the liquid element, deposit their eggs in long chains. When gordii are dried they become hard and brittle, and apparently dead, but water returns them to their wonted supplene and vitality. Gordius aquatic us is the Common Hair-worm. göre (1), s . [A. S. gor filth, dirt; cogn. with Icel. gor gore, the cud in animals; Sw.gorr =dirt, matter; cf. Gr. chorde a gut, a cord; Lat. hira = gut; Icel. garnir , görn guts.] IMG:content-0631.png:[blocks in formation] gore-strake, s. gorged Ship build.: A strake which terminates before reaching the stem or stern-post. Such strakes are at or near the center of the ship to le en the spiling of the plank. göre (1), v. t. [A.S.gár=a spear; Icel. gein; M. H. Ger. ger; O. H. Ger. kér.] 1. To pierce, to stab, to penetrate with a pointed instrument. "O let no noble eye profane a tear For me, if I be gored with Mowbray's spear." Shakesp.: Richard II ., 1. 3. 2. To pierce as with a horn. "An ox that attempts to gore the attendants." -Cogan: IMG:content-0632.png:[blocks in formation] I. Ordinary Language: 1. The throat, the gullet. "He with him closed, and, laying mighty hold Upon his throte did gripe his gorge so fast, That wanting breath him down to ground he cast." Spenser: F Q., VL. iv. 22. 2. That which is swallowed or gorged; swallowed food caused to rise by nausea or disgust. "And all the way, most like a brutish beast, He spewed vp his gorge, that all did him deteast." Spenser: F. Q., I. iv. 21. 3. The act of gorging; a heavy meal. "The counseler heareth causes with le e pain being emptie, then he shal be able after a ful gorge."-Wilson: IMG:content-0633.png:[blocks in formation] "They were in one gore of blood."-H. Brooke : Fool of curtains. Quality , i. 68. *gore-blood, *goare-bloud, s. Gore, blood. "Downe strait he falles, and armour large with goare . bloud embrues." Phaer.: Virgil's Æneidos , xii. göre (2), *gair, *gare, *goore, s. [A. S. gárá =a projecting point of land, from gár a spear; Icel. O. H. Ger. kero ; M. H. Ger. gere a promontory; Ger. gehre a wedge, a gu et; Dut. geer =a gu et, a gore.] 2. A fat-bellied person. gorçe, s. [Norm.-Fr. gorse; O. Fr. gorge, from Lat. gurges =a whirlpool.] A weir; a pool of water to keep fish in. gor-cock, s . [Etym. of first element doubtful, but perhaps A. S. gor dirt; Eng. cock .] The moorcock, red-grouse, or red-game. ""Mongst desert hills, where, leagues around, Dwelt but the gorcock and the deer." Scott: Bridal of Trier main , iii. 6. gor-crow, gore-crow, s. [A. S. gor =dirt, filth, and Eng. crow . The carrion-crow. "It will also eat grain and insects, and like the raven will pick out the eyes of young lambs when just dropped, for which reason it was formerly distinguished from the rook, which feeds entirely on grain and insects, by the name of the gor or gorecrow ."-Pennant: British Zoology ; Carrion Crow. gor-di-ā-çe-a, s. pl. [Mod. Lat. gordi ( us ), and Lat. neut. pl. adj. suff. -ace a.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. A triangular or wedge-shaped piece; as(1) A triangular piece sewed into a dre , a sail, ., to widen it out at any part; a gu et. (2) An angular piece of planking used in fitting the skin of a ve el to the frames. *(3) A triangular or pointed piece of land. *2. Dre . "Geynest under gore, herkne to my roune." Lyric Poems, p. 29. II. Her.: A charge consisting of two curved lines, one from the sinister chief point, the other from the base middle point, meeting in an acute angle in the middle of the fo e point. gore-bill, s. A name given Gore. to the garfish (q. v.) from its long beak or nose. IMG:content-0634.png:[blocks in formation] 3. Mason.: A small groove at the underside of a coping, to keep the drip from reaching the wall; a throat. 4. Naut .: The groove or score of a pulley. gorge-hook, s. Two fish-hooks separated by a piece of lead. gorge, v . t . & i. [Fr. gorger .] [GORGE, 8.] A. Transitive : 1. To swallow greedily or in largo mouthfuls. "Dislodging from a region scarce of prey, To gorge the flesh of lambs or yearling kids." Milton: P. L., iii. 484. 2. To fill up to the throat, to glut, to satiate. "The full-fed hound or gorged hawk, Unapt for tender smell or speedy flight, Make slow pursuit or altogether balk." Shakesp.: Rape of Lucrece, 694. gorgeous 2. Her.: Encircled round the throat, as when an animal is represented bearing a crown or the like round the neck It is blazoned as gorged with a crown, .