involved, ppl. a.
(ɪnˈvɒlvd)
[f. prec. + -ed1.]
1. lit. a. Curved spirally. b. Enfolded, enwrapped.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad ii. 179 His sandie confines; whose sides, grone with his inuolued waue. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 52 Their Beards and Hair they wear long, untrim'd, rudely involv'd. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 809 An engorgement of the involved bowel. |
† 2. Of persons, their actions, etc. Not straightforward and open; underhand, covert, crooked, reserved. Obs.
| 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Counsel (Arb.) 322 There be men that are in nature faithfull, and sincere and plaine, and direct, not craftye, and involved. 1640 Habington Castara iii. (Arb.) 118 All th' involv'd designements of the wise. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 44 ¶4 They are very sullen and involved. |
3. Intricate, complicated. b. Contained by implication, implicit.
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §9 To pose my apprehension with those involved ænigmas and riddles of the Trinity. 1791 Boswell Johnson an. 1750, The style of this work [Rambler] has been censured by some shallow criticks as involved and turgid. 1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. ii. (1847) 21 The involved language of Gildas..has led to much misapprehension of his meaning. 1864 Bowen Logic ii. 40 These Laws of Thought exist there in a latent or involved form. |
Hence inˈvolvedly adv., in a way that is involved implicitly; inˈvolvedness, the fact, state, or quality of being involved.
| 1624 F. White Repl. Fisher 33 Doctrine neither expresly nor inuoluedly contained in holy Scripture. 1647 Boyle Disc. Swearing i. §1 The involvedness of all men in the guilt of swearing. 1654 W. Mountague Devout Ess. ii. x. §1. 193 How shall the mind of man..extricate itself, out of this comprisure and involvedness in the bodies passions and infirmities? 1840 G. S. Faber Regeneration i. ii. 28 A moral change of disposition; and thence, subordinately and involvedly, a federal change of relative condition. 1867 Pall Mall G. 30 Jan. 4 The Indian Statute-book..bids fair to emulate our own in confusion, bulk, and involvedness. |