anfractuosity
(ænˌfræktjuːˈɒsɪtɪ)
Also 7 amf-.
[a. Fr. anfractuosité, f. L. anfractuōs-us: see prec. and -ity.]
The quality of being anfractuous.
1. lit. Sinuosity, circuitousness; usually concr. in pl. winding or tortuous crevices, channels, passages.
| 1596 Lowe Art Chirurg. (1634) 241 The vayne goeth aboue the artier, but not right lyne as other parts doe, but in anfractuosities, like unto a Woodbine. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Amfractuosity. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. v. 182 Upon the bottom of the sea following its curvatures, declivities and anfractuosities. 1875 H. James R. Hudson vii. 233 Chance anfractuosities of ruin in the upper portions of the Coliseum. 1877 Havard's Pict. Holland 406 The quarry is usually entered by an anfractuosity of the mountain. |
b. spec. The sinuous depressions separating the convolutions of the brain.
| 1687 Phil. Trans. XVI. 373 The Anfractuosities of the Brain. 1839–47 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. III. 383/2 The principal anfractuosities sink more than a line's depth into the substance of the hemisphere. |
2. fig. Involution, intricacy, obliquity; concr. in pl.
| 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. 1834. 231 The sweet labyrinth and mellifluent anfractuosities of a laciuious delectation. 1780 Johnson in Boswell (1831) IV. 336 Sir, among the anfractuosities of the human mind I know not if it may not be one, that there is a superstitious reluctance to sit for a picture. 1879 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 592 Subtle hints of the various anfractuosities of their minds. |