Definition of "vexe"

In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ to vexe them.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], Acts xij:, folio clxxj, verso

Thy dart, or sling, / Or strong bow-string, / That should vs wring, / And vnderbring, / Who every way, / Thee vexe and pay, / And beare the sway / By nigh

1589, Ioseph Barnes, A Skeltonicall salutation, or condigne gratulation, and iust vexation of the Spanishe nation that in a bravado, spent many a crusado, in setting forth an armado England to invado.

Now Indignation is a fire, ſaith the Prophet, it will vexe the partie whom it malignes, as fire vexeth the rawe fleſh in the roſting or boyling.

1607, William [Barlow], A Brand, Titio Erepta. […], London: […] Iohn Windet for Mathew Law

Either you goe away contented, or you go away condemned of your owne conſcience: before you were vext with couetouſneſſe, but now the world ſhall vexe you too: […]

1628, Henry Smith, Three Sermons, London: […] W. S. for Iohn Smethwicke, […], page 18

Other unlucky accidents happen in these seas to vexe them, as when (in most becalmings) they swim in the bearing Ocean, the greedy Tuberon or Shark arm'd with a double row of venemous teeth pursues them [...].

1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, section I

This vexeing the brewers, they have represented it in the worst colours to the Commissioners of the Excise, and they have made complaint of it to the King in Councill.

1681 December 19, Humphrey Prideaux, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson, Letters of Humphrey Prideaux, Sometime Dean of Norwich, to John Ellis, Sometime Under-Secretary of State, 1674-1722, […] the Camden Society, published 1875, page 121