Allay vs Vex - What's the difference?
allay | vex |
To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
(obsolete) To subside, abate, become peaceful.
* 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Mark IV:
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet alleviation; abatement; check
To trouble aggressively, to harass.
* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XII:
To annoy, irritate.
To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
(rare) To twist, to weave.
* Dryden
(obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
* Alexander Pope
In transitive terms the difference between allay and vex
is that allay is to alleviate; to abate; to mitigate while vex is to toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.In intransitive obsolete terms the difference between allay and vex
is that allay is to subside, abate, become peaceful while vex is to be irritated; to fret.allay
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Verb
(en verb)- to allay popular excitement
- to allay the tumult of the passions
- to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity
- And the wynde alayed , and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?
- When the rage allays .
- (Fuller)
Quotations
He had to pretend to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have been aroused by his appearance at the gate.—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet
Synonyms
* alleviate; check; repress; assuage; appease; abate; subdue; destroy; compose; soothe; calm; quietNoun
References
*Anagrams
* ----vex
English
Verb
(es)- In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregacion, to vexe them.
- Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
- some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom
- (Chapman)
- White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.
