GORDIAN KNOT • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Gordian knot

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/gˈɔrdiən nɑt/ Listen

adjective

Gordian adj.

Pertaining to Gordius, king of Phrygia, or to a knot tied by him; hence, intricate; complicated; inextricable.

Gordian knot, an intricate knot tied by Gordius in the thong which connected the pole of the chariot with the yoke. An oracle having declared that he who should untie it should be master of Asia, Alexander the Great averted the ill omen of his inability to loosen it by cutting it with his sword. Hence, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a difficulty by bold and energetic measures.

(Zool.) Pertaining to the Gordiacea.

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Etymology of 'Gordian knot'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Gordian knot" Quotes from Famous Books

... etc., at first with very dilute sulphuric acid, and then with ammonia. Afterward we rinsed them with quantities of water and dried them carefully with white linen rags that had been used for no other purpose; and finally we plunged them again into very clean water. We thus cut the Gordian knot, and were on ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883 • Various