vex

1. (transitive) To annoy, irritate.Examples: "Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades."; "The first thing that greets you on entering the church is a notice asking you not to vex the goat, since it renders valuable service in keeping the churchyard tidy."Synonyms: agitate, irk, irritate, aggravate, annoy, rankle, ruffle, stingtransitive

2. (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.Examples: "I will not again vex her ear with words of love, however true, however deep: ours is an evil destiny, and we may not control it!"; "I vex my heart with fancies dim: ⁠He still outstript me in the race; ⁠It was but unity of place That made me dream I rank’d with him."Synonyms: afflict, grame, tormenttransitive

3. (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.Examples: "In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ, to vexe them."Synonyms: beset, hassle, badger, bait, bedevil, beleaguer, persecute, bugarchaictransitive

4. (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.Examples: "some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom"raretransitive

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.Examples: "Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought"Synonyms: chafe, fumeintransitiveobsolete

6. (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.Examples: "White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars."transitive