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tortuousnessmore about tortuousness

tortuousness

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Tortuous  \Tor"tu*ous\,  a.  [OE.  tortuos,  L.  tortuosus,  fr  tortus 
  a  twisting,  winding,  fr  torquere  tortum  to  twist:  cf  F. 
  tortueux  See  Torture.] 
  1.  Bent  in  different  directions;  wreathed;  twisted;  winding; 
  as  a  tortuous  train;  a  tortuous  train;  a  tortuous  leaf  or 
  corolla. 
 
  The  badger  made  his  dark  and  tortuous  hole  on  the 
  side  of  every  hill  where  the  copsewood  grew  thick. 
  --Macaulay. 
 
  2.  Fig.:  Deviating  from  rectitude;  indirect;  erroneous; 
  deceitful. 
 
  That  course  became  somewhat  lesstortuous  when  the 
  battle  of  the  Boyne  had  cowed  the  spirit  of  the 
  Jakobites  --Macaulay. 
 
  3.  Injurious:  tortious.  [Obs.] 
 
  4.  (Astrol.)  Oblique;  --  applied  to  the  six  signs  of  the 
  zodiac  (from  Capricorn  to  Gemini)  which  ascend  most 
  rapidly  and  obliquely.  [Obs.]  --Skeat. 
 
  Infortunate  ascendent  tortuous.  --Chaucer. 
  --{Tor"tu*ous*ly},  adv  --  {Tor"tu*ous*ness},  n. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  tortuousness 
  n  :  a  tortuous  and  twisted  shape  or  position;  "they  built  a  tree 
  house  in  the  tortuosities  of  its  boughs";  "the  acrobat 
  performed  incredible  contortions"  [syn:  {tortuosity},  {torsion}, 
  {contortion},  {crookedness}]




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