Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PER-PLEX'I-TY, n.

1. Intricacy; entanglement. The jury were embarrassed by the perplexity of the case.
2. Embarrassment of mind; disturbance from doubt, confusion, difficulty or anxiety. Perplexity not suffering them to be idle, they think and do, as it were, in a phrensy. – Hooker.