[…] I mourne in my prayer, and make a noiſe, / For the voyce of the enemie, & for thevexation of the vvicked, becauſe they haue broght iniquitie vpon me, & furiouſly hate me.
And, gentlePuck, take this transformed ſcalpe, / From the heade of thisAthenian ſvvaine[Nick Bottom]; / That hee, avvaking vvhen the other do, / May all toAthens backe againe repaire, / And thinke no more of this nights accidents, / But as the fearcevexation of a dreame.
ORome, in vvhat a ſickneſſe art thou fall'n! / Hovv dangerous, and deadly! vvhen thy head / Is drovvn'd in ſleepe, and all thy body feu'ry! / No noiſe, no pulling, novexation vvakes thee,[…]
All was safe and prosperous; and as the removal of one solicitude generally makes way for another, Emma, being now certain of her ball, began to adopt as the nextvexation Mr. Knightley's provoking indifference about it.
1887,John Ruskin, “Of Age”, inPræterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume II, Orpington, Kent:George Allen,→OCLC,page19:
[…] I spoke of the constantvexation I suffered because I could not draw better.
[M]en lyued ſimplye and innocentlye without inforcement of lawes, without quarellinge Judges and libelles, contente onely to ſatiſfie nature, without furthervexation for knowledge of thinges to come.
Full ofvexation, come I, vvith complaint / Againſt my childe, my daughterHermia.
1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton], “Prognosticks of Melancholy”, inThe Anatomy of Melancholy,[…], Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition 1, section 4, member 3, subsection 1,pages271–272:
So ſome, ſaithFracaſtorius[Girolamo Fracastoro], in fury, but moſt in despaire, ſorrovv, feare, and out of the anguiſh andvexation of their ſoules, offer violence to themſelues: for their life is vnhappy and miſerable.
1715,Robert South, “Covetousness Proved No Less an Absurdity in Reason, than a Contradiction to Religion, nor a More Unsure Way to Riches, than Riches Themselves to Happiness. Part II.”, inTwelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London:[…] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer[…],→OCLC,page479:
And vvhether Poverty or Riches produce theVexation, the Impreſſion it makes upon the Heart, is alike from both.
Truly, I think thou hast, and if anything could add to my grief andvexation at this moment, it is, that when I am so deep in the mire, an ass like thee should place his clumsy hoof on my head, to sink me entirely.
(uncountable) The state of being physically annoyed or irritated.
'Tis Princely, vvhen a Tyranne doth oppoſe; / And is a fortune ſent to exerciſe / Your vertue, as the vvind doth try ſtrong trees: / VVho byvexation grovv more ſound, and firme.
Let No Ground be ſovved that is Planted vvith Vines; for the Earth hath enough to do to Attend the Services of That Plant, vvithout the SuperfluousVexations of the Plovv over and above.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,June 2024;“vexation,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.