tortuous, a.
(ˈtɔːtjuːəs)
[a. AF. tortuous (12–13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) = 14th c. F. tortueux, ad. L. tortuōs-us, ‘full of crooks or turns or twists’, f. tortu-s a twisting, f. tort-, ppl. stem of torquēre to twist.]
1. Full of twists, turns, or bends; twisted, winding, crooked, sinuous.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 18320 A camell..is so encomerous Off bak corvyd and tortuous. c 1450 Merlin xxii. 393 The dragon..be-tokened the kynge Arthur and his power;..and the taile that was so tortuouse be-tokened the grete treson of the peple. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., Paralleles tortuouse, whiche bowe contrarie waies with their two endes. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 516 Hee..of his tortuous Traine Curld many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ., Riddle Explained, The most difficult and tortuous passages of the heart! 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. ii. (1818) 317 The root is perennial, woody, and tortuous. 1839 Darwin Voy. Nat. ix. (1879) 186 We found the river-course very tortuous. |
† b. Astron. Applied to the six signs of the zodiac from Capricornus to Gemini, which (in northern latitudes) rise more obliquely than the other six. Obs. rare—1.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §28 Thise same signes, fro the heued of capricorne vnto the ende of geminis, ben cleped tortuos signes or kroked signes, for they arisen embelif on owre Orisonte. |
c. Geom. Applied to a curve of which no two successive portions are in the same plane; also called a non-plane curve, curve in space, or curve of double curvature (see curvature 1 b).
| 1867 [see tortuosity 1 b]. |
2. fig. Not direct or straightforward; indirect, irregular, devious, circuitous, crooked: esp. in a moral sense. (In quot. 1801 app. Dealing in quaint ‘turns’ of speech or expression.)
| [1682: see tortious 4.] 1801 Ld. Calthorpe Let. in Wilberforce's Priv. Papers (1897) 104 Sir W. Scott..was very tortuous and amusing. 1823 Scott Quentin D. viii, The unscrupulous cunning with which he assisted in the execution of the schemes of his master's tortuous policy. 1858 Sears Athan. iii. vii. 319 A narrow and tortuous criticism. 1865 Mill Exam. Hamilton 415 The tortuous phraseology by which our author evades recognising the ideas of truth and falsity. 1911 Times 2 Nov. 3/4 A more tortuous way of trying to get possession of goods he had never heard of. |
¶ 3. Malign (obs.); wrongful. (Misused for or confused with tortious.)
| 1594 Greene & Lodge Looking Glasse (1598) E iv b, What tortuous planets..Hath made the concaue of the earth vnclose? 1839 Times 13 May, Keeping tortuous possession of premises after their several gentlemen had departed. 1839 Morn. Herald 3 June, The first action ever brought against a returning officer for the tortuous refusal of a vote for members of parliament. |
Hence ˈtortuously adv., in a tortuous manner (lit. and fig.; in quot. 1839 misused for tortiously); ˈtortuousness, the quality or condition of being tortuous, tortuosity.
| 1824 New Monthly Mag. X. 175 Musty precedents..which an ingenious tortuousness may call in. 1839 Morn. Herald 3 June, Any person, whose vote has been..tortuously refused at an election. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlv. (1856) 413 We wound our way tortuously among them. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. ix. §80 (1875) 245 In proportion to the complexity of social forces is the tortuousness of social movements. 1884 Pall Mall G. 8 Aug. 5/1 Puget Sound..runs southward tortuously from Vancouver Island far into the rugged heart of the Washington territory. |
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Add: ¶ 4. Used erroneously for torturous a.
| 1922 F. M. Ford Let. 12 Feb. (1965) 138 E. J. is going through such a peevish stage with her teeth that to have her in the house would be no pleasure..to you and it would..be tortuous to Stella. 1988 J. Herbert Haunted xix. 138 Ash felt weak, the heat sapping his strength. Breathing had become tortuous. |