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- puzzle over
puzzle over
puzzle over someone or something
to consider or ponder. I can't puzzle out the mean—someone or something. Anne is a bit strange. I've spent some time puzzling over her. While I was puzzling over why she had slapped me, she did it again.
puzzle over something
to give a lot of attention and thought to something I puzzled over those words, trying to understand their hidden message.
Related vocabulary: tease out something