Gōr'di-an, a.

a. Pertaining to Gordius, king of Phrygia, or to a knot tied by him, and which could not be untied; hence, intricate; complicated; difficult.

Gordian knot, a knot tied by Gordius, a king of Phrygia, in the thong which connected the pole of his chariot to the yoke, and which was so very intricate that there was no finding where it began or ended. An oracle declared that he who should untie this knot should be master of Asia. Alexander, fearing that his inability to untie it would prove an ill augury, cut it asunder with his sword. Hence, a Gordian knot is an inextricable difficulty; and to cut the Gordian knot is to remove a difficulty by bold or unusual measures.