English

Noun

ambages pl ‎(plural only)

1. Indirect or roundabout ways of talking; circumlocution.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Bk.I, New York, 2001, p.169:

     Having thus briefly anatomized the body and soul of man, […] I may now freely proceed to treat of my intended subject , to most men's capacity; and after many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is […].

2. Indirect or roundabout routes or directions.
   • 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:

     Paris put fear into him, a city of monstrous size to which London was but a market town. Its ambages of streets bewildered.

Translations

Latin

Etymology

From ambi- ‎(“both”) +‎ agō ‎(“I drive”) +‎ -ēs ‎(noun forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /amˈbaː.ɡeːs/

Noun

ambāgēs f ‎(genitive ambāgis); third declension

1. circuit (roundabout way)
2. long story
3. circumlocution, evasion, digression
4. ambiguity

Inflection

Third declension, alternative accusative singular in -im, alternative ablative singular in -ī and accusative plural in -īs.

Descendants

• French: ambages
• Spanish: ambages

References

• ambages in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ambages in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• AMBAGES in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “ambages”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
    

Old French

Etymology

Circa 1355, Borrowing from Latin ambāges.

Noun

ambages m pl

1. circumlocution, ambages (indirect or roundabout ways of talking)

Descendants

• English: ambages (borrowed)
• French: ambages

Spanish

Etymology

from Latin ambāges

Noun

ambages m pl ‎(plurale tantum)

1. circumlocution, ambages (indirect or roundabout ways of talking)
2. (rare) ambages (indirect or roundabout routes or directions)

Synonyms

• circunlocución
• circunloquios
• rodeos de palabras
• rodeos

Derived terms

• ambagioso
• hablar con ambages
• sin ambages