per-plexus, a, um, adj. [plecto], entangled, involved, intricate, confused (not in Cic. or Caes.).
I Lit.: figurae, Lucr. 2, 102; cf. id. 2, 459; 463: foramina linguae, id. 4, 621: corpora terraï, id. 5, 452: iter silvae, Verg. A. 9, 391; Plin. 9, 2, 1, § 2: nervi, Vulg. Job, 40, 12.—
II Trop., intricate , involved , confused , perplexed , unintelligible , dark , ambiguous , obscure , inscrutable : sermones, Liv. 40, 5: perplexius carmen, id. 25, 12: perplexum Punico astu responsum, id. 35, 14 fin. —As subst., intricacy , perplexity : ignorare se dixit, quidnam perplexi sua legatio haberet, id. 34, 57.— Comp. : ratio perplexior, Plin. 2, 15, 13, § 62.—Hence, adv.: perplexē , confusedly , perplexedly , obscurely : pergin', scelesta, mecum perplexe loqui? Ter. Eun. 817: defectionem haud perplexe indicavere, Liv. 6, 13; Curt. 8, 5, 13.— Comp. : perplexius errare, Prud. adv. Symm. 2, 847: disputans, Amm. 25, 3, 23.—
B Carefully , with minute care : interrogando, Amm. 15, 1, 1.