Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GORD'IAN, a.

Intricate. [See the next word.] Gordian knot, in antiquity, a knot in the leather or harness of Gordius, a king of Phrygia, so very intricate, that there was no finding where it began or ended. An oracle declared that he who should untie this knot should be master of Asia. Alexander, fearing that his inability to untie it should prove an ill augury, cut it asunder with his sword. Hence, in modern language, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot, is to remove a difficulty by bold or unusual measures. Encyc. Lempriere.