annoy

Definitions

1. verb

   To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.

   Examples

   • Marc loved his sister, but when she annoyed him he wanted to switch her off.
   • Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, / This painted child of dirt that stinks and stings; / Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, / Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'r enjoys.
   ≈bother≈irritate≠please
2. verb

   To molest; to harm; to injure.

   Examples

   • to annoy an army by impeding its march, or by a cannonade
   • tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them
   ≈damage≈wound≈abuse≈annoy≈bewound +21 more
3. noun

   A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes.

   Examples

   • VVe that ſuffer long anoy / Are contented vvith a thought / Through an idle fancie vvrought / O let my ioyes have ſome abiding.
   • [I]f she says he was defeated, why he had better, a great deal, have been defeated, than give her a moment's annoy.
4. noun

   That which causes such a feeling.

   Examples

   • Sleepe in Peace, and wake in Ioy, / Good Angels guard thee from the Boares annoy […]
   • The home far and away, the distance where lives joy, / The cure, at once and ever, of world and world's annoy; […]