Noun

(en noun)

A labyrinth; a puzzle consisting of a complicated network of paths or passages, the aim of which is to find one's way.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=May 30 , author=Hayley Spurway , title=Top 10 family days out in south Devon , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=There's plenty for toddlers too: experience the Wild West in Bear City, play with sand diggers, splash in the paddling pool and discover meerkats, reptiles and alpacas in the Zoo-Farm. Rain doesn't stop play, just head for the indoor fun factory with a rocking and rolling tugboat, mirror maze , ferris wheel and soft play. }}

Something made up of many confused or conflicting elements; a tangle.

* {{quote-book, year=1907, author=

, title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=1 citation , passage=A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.}}

*

Confusion of thought; perplexity; uncertainty; state of bewilderment.

*

Noun

(en noun)

Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child.

A thing of little importance or value; a trifle.

* Abr. Abbot

They exchange for knives, glasses, and such toys , great abundance of gold and pearl.

A simple, light piece of music, written especially for the virginal.

(obsolete) Love play, amorous dalliance; fondling.

* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.i:

Then seemed him his Lady by him lay, / And to him playnd, how that false winged boy, / Her chast hart had subdewd, to learne Dame pleasures toy .

(obsolete) A vague fancy, a ridiculous idea or notion; a whim.

*, vol.1, III.i.2:

Though they do talk with you, and seem to be otherwise employed, and to your thinking very intent and busy, still that toy runs in their mind, that fear, that suspicion, that abuse, that jealousy […].

* Spenser

To fly about playing their wanton toys .

* Beaumont and Fletcher

What if a toy take 'em in the heels now, and they all run away.

* Drayton

Nor light and idle toys my lines may vainly swell.

(slang, derogatory) An inferior graffiti artist.

* 2009 , Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground (page 40)

It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.

* 2011 , Adam Melnyk, Visual Orgasm: The Early Years of Canadian Graffiti (page 45)

I was a toy until I met Sear, who moved here from Toronto and showed me the book Subway Art.

(obsolete) An old story; a silly tale.

(Shakespeare)

(Scotland, archaic) A headdress of linen or wool that hangs down over the shoulders, worn by old women of the lower classes; called also toy mutch.

* Sir Walter Scott

Having, moreover, put on her clean toy , rokelay, and scarlet plaid.