abstruse

adj

Etymology: PIE word *h₂epó Learned borrowing from Latin abstrūsus (“concealed, hidden; having been concealed”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abstrūdō (“to conceal, hide; to push or thrust away”), from abs- (from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; away from’)) + trūdō (“to push, shove; to thrust”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *trewd- (“to push; to thrust”)). Cognates * Catalan abstrús * German abstrus (“abstruse”) * Italian astruso (“abstruse”) * Middle French abstruse (modern French abstrus, abstruse (“(derogatory, literary) abstruse”) * Portuguese abstruso (“abstruse”) * Spanish abstruso (“abstruse”)

1. Difficult to comprehend or understand; obscure.

   “Some time the good makithe an ile end⸝ ãd the ile a godd. In this opiniõ⸝ and in ſcrutable miſterie be werithe all his wittes⸝ and at the end of his cogitacions⸝ fyndithe more abſtruſe⸝ and doutfull obiections thẽ at the beginning⸝ […]”

   “Be leſs abſtruſe, my riddling days are paſt.”

2. Concealed or hidden; secret.

   “O vvho is he that could carrie nevves to our olde father, that thou vvert but aliue, although thou vvert hidden in the moſt abſtruſe dungeons of Barbarie; for his riches, my brothers and mine vvould fetch thee from thence.”

   “[T]he abſtruſeſt Things / VVhich in the Mindes dark Temper neſtling ly, / By you expoſed are to every Eye.”