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Webster 1913 Edition

Tortuous

Tor′tu-ous

,
Adj.
[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
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 less
tortuous
, 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
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition

Tortuous

TORT'UOUS

,
Adj.
[L. tortuosus.]
1.
Twisted; wreathed; winding; as a tortuous train; a tortuous leaf or corol, in botany.
2.
Tortious. [Not used.] [See Tortious.]

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