▪ I. tangle, n.1
(ˈtæŋg(ə)l)
[= Norw. taangel, tongul, Færoese tongul, ON. and Icel. þöngull (:— þangulr) ‘the stalk of Laminaria digitata’, app. deriv. of þang bladder-wrack, tang n.3
The etymological history is not clear; tangle cannot have come down from ON., because ON. þ remains in Sc. and Eng. as th: cf. Thurso, Thorpe, Thwaite, Thoresby, etc.; it must therefore either have spread south from Orkney and Shetland, where ON. þ had become t, or be a later adoption from Norwegian or other lang. having t for ON. þ. (The name ‘tangle’ is not mentioned among the Algæ in Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, 1778.)]
1. A general term for the larger seaweeds, species of Fucus and allied genera; = tang n.3 Often sea-tangle. (Prob. orig. an inaccurate use; cf. 2.)
| 1536 Bellenden Cosmogr. xiv. in Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. xlix, Maister Alexander Galloway..liftet up ane see⁓tangle, hingand full of mussill schellis fra the rute to the branchis. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 62 He saw bred of a sey tangle, mussilis. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 676 It hath gotten about the keele a deale of mosse, reits, kilpe, and tangle. 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 13 Upon which..Rock-weed or Sea-tangle did grow a hand long. 1744 Preston ibid. XLIII. 61 There are Plenty of Sea-weeds, called Tangle, growing on the Rocks, of which might be made Kelp. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags lii, Certain..persons were carrying away sea-tangle from his foreshore. |
2. spec. Either of two species of seaweed, Laminaria (Fucus L.) digitata and L. saccharina, having long leathery fronds, the young stalk and fronds of which are sometimes eaten. (This is the Norse sense, and prob. the proper one.)
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 91 Scrapt haddocks, wilks, dulse and tangle. 1807 Thompson Cat. Plants Berwick-on-Tweed 112 Fucus digitatus, Fingered Fucus; Tangle. 1820 Scott Monast. Answ. Introd. Epist., I never saw it cast ashore any thing but dulse and tangle. 1845 Edmonston Flora of Shetland 54 Laminaria digitata is by them [the Orcadian peasantry] termed Tangle. 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 21 The young stalks of Laminaria digitata and saccharina are eaten under the name of ‘tangle’. 1875 J. H. Balfour in Encycl. Brit. I. 508/2 Dulse and tangle was formerly a common cry in the streets of Edinburgh. |
3. Comb., as tangle-strewn, tangle-tasselled adjs.; tangle-fish, a popular name of the needle-fish or pipe-fish, Syngnathus acus; tangle-picker, a bird, the Turnstone (Strepsilas interpres); tangle-tent, in surgery, a tent or pledget of seaweed; tangle-weed, tangle-wrack, = sense 1.
| 1838 Parnell in Mem. Werner. Soc. VII. 394 Syngnathus acus, *Tangle-Fish, Scotland, [so called] by the fishermen, in consequence of its being found under seaweed, which they call tangle. |
| 1882 Yarrell Hist. Birds (ed. 4) III. 290 Searching among sea-weed for its food: whence its appropriate Norfolk name of ‘*Tangle-picker’. |
| 1882 Good Cheer 41 Cool sea scented breezes came up from the *tangle-strewn sands. |
| 1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair i. xxvi, Up-propp'd from sea, a *tangle-tassell'd shape. |
| 1889 J. M. Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women v. (ed. 4) 17 The cervix [uteri] was dilated by a *tangle-tent. |
| 1825 G. F. Lyon Brief Narr. Attempt to reach Repulse Bay 65 The sea was much agitated, a great quantity of *tangle weed floating about. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 20 Far down amongst the tangleweed and coral branches at the bottom of the deep green sea. 1870 J. Lauder Warblings of Caged Bird 37 Whaur the stanes are green wi' moss And the tangle weeds are plenty. |
| 1890 W. Pater Wks. (1901) VIII. 23 All around the gulf there is but an expanse of *tanglework. |
| 1721 Ramsay Prospect of Plenty 228 Wild shores..Plenish'd with nought but shells and *tangle-wreck. |
▪ II. tangle, n.2
(ˈtæŋg(ə)l)
[f. tangle v.1]
1. a. A tangled condition, or concr. a tangled mass; a complication of threads, hairs, fibres, branches, boughs, or the like, confusedly intertwined or interlaced, or of a single long thread, line, or rope, involved in coils, loops, and knots; a snarl, ravel, or complicated loose knot. Also transf. of streams, paths, etc. similarly intertwisted or confused.
| 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 20 That it [the soil] may run among the small tangles [of the roots] without straining or bruising. 1637 Milton Lycidas 69 To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair. 1667 ― P.L. ix. 632 Hee [the serpent] leading swiftly rowld In tangles, and made intricate seem strait, To mischief swift. a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 35 If upon combing his head he meets with a tangle that tears off two or three hairs. 1842 Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 321 This bow became covered with a tangle of creepers. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 378 The rise and fall of the tides always breaks up the ice..in a tangle of irregular, half-floating masses. 1861 D. Cook P. Foster's D. vii, One of a small tangle of courts between Long Acre and New Street, Covent Garden. 1873 Hale In His Name v. 26 In a tangle of low, scrubby oaks. 1879 M. D. Conway Demonol. I. iii. ix. 386 The Gorgon's head..with its fearful tangle of serpent tresses. Mod. This string is all in a tangle. |
b. spec. A dredger for sweeping the sea-bed, consisting of a bar to which are attached a number of hempen ‘mops’, in the fibres of which the more delicate marine specimens are entangled.
| 1882 D. C. Beard Amer. Boy's Handy Bk. xi. 88 The Tangle, a name given to tassels of hemp that are often attached to the bottom of the dredge itself or used separately. 1883 Leslie tr. Nordenskiöld's Voy. Vega 97 The hempen tangles were used, and brought up a very abundant yield of large, beautiful animal forms. 1884 Science IV. 227/2 The true province of the tangles is a very rocky bottom, where neither the dredge nor trawl can be safely used. |
2. fig. A complicated and confused assemblage; a muddle, jumble, complication, medley, puzzle; a confused network of opinions, facts, etc.; also, a perplexed state.
| 1757 Dyer Fleece ii. Poet. Wks. (1761) 110 And silent, in the tangles soft involv'd Of death-like sleep. 1800 Coleridge Death Wallenst. 183 Where's he that will unravel This tangle, ever tangling more and more? 1858 Sears Athan. iii. x. 330 The tangles of metaphysics in which they sought to involve the great Apostle. 1866 J. H. Newman Gerontius v. 42 Methinks I know To disengage the tangle of thy words. 1873 Morley Rousseau II. 126 The complex tangle of the history of social growths. 1883 Sir T. Martin Ld. Lyndhurst xi. 285 The skill with which he reduced into method and compass the enormous tangle of facts and figures. |
3. Comb. = in a tangle, tangled, as tangle-twine, tangle-twist, tangle-wood; tangle-haired, tangle-headed, tangle-tailed adjs.; also tangle-swab, one of the mops of a tangle for dredging (sense 1 b).
| 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 68 They were a russet, *tangle-haired and shaggy-bearded set. |
| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xv. 131, I think you're a *tangle-headed old fool, Jim. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 15 Aug. 15/3 A gipsy woman, with tangle-headed children, carrying faggots on their backs. |
| 1884 Science IV. 148/1 Several *tangle-swabs were generally attached to the hinder end of the bag. Ibid. 227/2 The use of hempen tangle-swabs attached to the dredge was introduced by the English exploring-steamer Porcupine in 1868 or 1869. |
| 1883 W. G. Collingwood Philos. Ornament v. 121 The builders of early Italian cathedrals..now run wild with the northern *tangle-tailed mysteries. |
| 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 94 The wreaths, *Tangle-twine of leaf and bloom. |
| 1889 Chicago Advance 6 June, 'Twould take ten miles o' this here *tangletwist to make one. |
| 1894 Ibid. 26 Apr., He scuttled off in a wild panic through the thick *tanglewood. |
▪ III. ˈtangle, n.3 Sc. and north. dial.
[Of uncertain origin: perh. belonging to tangle n.1 or n.2, or due to a vague combination of the two notions, or to some association with dangle.]
1. A pendent icicle. Sc.
| 1673 Wedderburn's Voc. 34 (Jam.) Stiria, a tangle of yce. 1813 E. Picken Misc. Poems I. 77 (E.D.D.) Frae ilk buss, the tangles gay, Hang skinklin' in the mornin' ray. 1888 Barrie Auld Licht Idylls i, The waterspout that suspends its ‘tangles’ of ice over a gaping tank. |
2. A tall and limp or flaccid person. Sc.
| 1789 Ross Helenore (ed. 3) 21 She's but a tangle, tho' shot out she be. |
3. Anything long and dangling, as a tress of hair, a long root-fibre, a torn loosely-pendent strip of cloth, etc.
| 1864 S. Bamford Homely Rhymes, etc. 148 Her bonny tangles Were hung wi star-spangles. 1892 M. C. F. Morris Yorksh. Folk-talk 386 When t' tang'ls is brokken they [potatoes] can't taatie. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. (W. Yks.), Her gown was all rives and tangles. |
4. Applied to plants having long, winding, and often tangled stalks, as the species of Myriophyllum (Water Milfoil) and Potamogeton (Pondweed); and to plants of tangled growth, as blue tangle(s (U.S.), red tangle: see quots.
| 1857 Dunglison Med. Lex., Tangles, Blue, Gaylussacia dumosa. 1866 Treas. Bot., Blue Tangle, an American name for Gaylussacia frondosa. 1886 Britten & Holl. Eng. Plant-n., Tangle, Red, Cuscuta Epithymum. |
b. Comb. tangle-berry = blue tangles (see 4), dangle-berry.
▪ IV. ˈtangle, a. Sc.
[f. tangle n.3]
Long and limp; tall and loose-jointed. Also in Comb., as tangle-backed.
| c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. I. 291 She was perfectly weak and tangle, her limbs being scarcely able to bear her weight. 1825 Jamieson, Tangle, tall and feeble, not well knit..as, ‘a lang tangle lad’. 1896 L. Keith Ind. Uncle x. 172 Yin o' the tangle-backit kind. |
▪ V. tangle, v.1
(ˈtæŋg(ə)l)
Also 4–5 tangil, -yl, 4–6 -el(e, 6 -ell.
[Known first in later 14th and early 15th c. MSS. of Hampole's Psalter (a 1340), as a variant reading for tagil, -yl, the form in the earliest MSS., used also in other works attributed to Hampole: see tagle v., of which tangle was app. a nasalized variant.
The vb. thus appears a century and a half earlier than tangle n.1 seaweed, from which some have suggested its derivation. It is however possible that the later senses 4 and 5 may have been associated with and influenced by that n. tangle n.2 was a direct derivative of the vb.]
† 1. trans. To involve or engage (a person) in affairs which encumber and hamper or embarrass, and from which it is difficult to get free; = entangle v. 2. Chiefly refl. and pass.; also, to embarrass, confuse (the brain, mind, conscience, etc.).
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxix. 16 (MS. U.) Na man may wit how many vices ere þat men ere tangild with. [So 8 MSS.: tangild, -gyld, -glyd, -glid, -gled, -geled; 2 earliest MSS. tagild.] a 1340 [see tagle v.]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 63 b, With the whiche he wyll tangle theyr myndes and trouble theyr conscyences. 1526 Tindale 1 Tim. vi. 10 Coveteousnes.., which whill some lusted after, they..tanglyd them selves with many sorowes. 1530 Palsgr. 752/2, I am tangled in busynesse, and can nat tel howe to wynde me out. 1561 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc iv. ii, O happie wight, that suffres not the snare Of murderous minde to tangle him in bloode. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1133/2 The queene tangling hir selfe contrarie to promise in hir husbands quarrell. 1671 Milton Samson 1665 Not willingly, but tangl'd in the fold Of dire necessity. |
2. To involve in material things that surround or wind about, so as to hamper and obstruct; also, to cover or wreathe with intertwined growth or with something that obstructs. Also fig.
| 1506–11 Sir R. Guylforde Pylgr. (Camden) 60 We were soo tangled in among the sayde deserte yles that we coude not gette oute frome amonges them. 1593 Drayton Eclogues vi. 167 See where yon little..Lambe of mine It selfe hath tangled in a crawling Breere. 1727 De Foe Hist. Appar. iv. (1840) 44 But hang..upon the mere thread, and choose to hamper and tangle themselves. 1829 Sir W. Napier Penins. War II. 265 He could not, alone, force his way to Lisbon,..through a country tangled with rivers. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 144 The sloes and brush⁓wood that tangle the brae. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xx. 250 His journal-entry referring to the 23{supd}, while tangled in the ice. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. x. 280 Beautiful gardens..tangled over with ipomeas and other bright creepers. 1885 R. Buchanan Annan Water v, The hedges were tangled with wild rose bushes. |
3. To catch and hold fast in or as in a net or snare; to entrap. Chiefly, in early use always, fig.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xxii. 15 The farises..toke counsell howe they myght tangle him in his wordes. ― 1 Cor. vii. 35 This speake I..not to tangle you in a snare: but for that which is honest and comly vnto you. 1540–1 Elyot Image of Gov. 20 They woorke theyr nette so finely,..that in one meishe or other he shall be tangled. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 67 Looke how a bird lyes tangled in a net. 1593 ― 2 Hen. VI, ii. iv. 55 [They] Haue all lym'd Bushes to betray thy Wings, And flye thou how thou canst, they'le tangle thee. 1635 W. Barriffe Mil. Discip. i. (1643) 5 They doe but tangle themselves in their owne snares. 1806 J. Grahame Birds Scotl. 43 May never fowler's snare Tangle thy struggling foot. |
4. To intertwist (threads, branches, or the like) complicatedly or confusedly together; to intertwist the threads or parts of (a thing) in this way; to put or get (a long thread or a number of threads, etc.) into a tangle. Also fig.
| 1530 Palsgr. 752/2, I tangell thynges so togyther that they can nat well be parted a sonder... You have tangled this threde so that it is marred. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 54 They come vp as it weere to one roote, and tangled together. 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 35 Those insects..tangled together by their long tailes. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants iii. App. §9 As we are wont to tangle the Twigs of Trees together to make an Arbour Artificial. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. ix. (1858) 117 As the different coils run from the tub, they sometimes, when not well laid down, get ‘foul’ or tangled. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxii. IV. 798 He had cut the knot which the Congress had only twisted and tangled. |
5. a. intr. for refl. To be or become tangled or confusedly intertwined. In quot. 1908, to have a tangled course, to twist about confusedly.
| 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 175 The falcon bating this way and that way, she shall never twinde nor tangle bicause the ring followeth hir still. 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi iii. ii, My hair tangles. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden cci, It [dodder] tangleth about it like a net. 1713 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 204 The whole Plant is clammy, and its branches tangle much. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 3/1 Above them [graves] tall grass grows and tangles, as if it were holding them together. 1908 Sat. Rev. 26 Sept. 392/1 She wandered..Down lanes that tangled through the countryside. |
† b. fig. To become involved in contention. Obs.
| 1535 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 249 Perceyving that thErle of Ossorie soo stedfastely and ernestly tanglid against the same traictors. 1536 Ibid. 330 OConor his he that now moste begynneth newly to tangle ageinst the army. |
c. transf. To fight, to engage in conflict or argument (with or up with); also fig. and loosely, to associate or become involved with. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
| 1928 Amer. Speech III. 29 Fistic action in large and copious quantities is expected..tonight when Dave Shade tangles with Maxie Rosenbloom. 1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xxiv. 242 While we're tangling, them bums will eat us up. 1929 D. Runyon in Hearst's Internat. July 58/2, I remember reading in the paper about a lot of different guys who are considered very sensible until they get tangled up with a doll. 1942 Sun (Baltimore) 13 May 15/4 (heading) Preakness victor will tangle with old rivals if he runs at Belmont. 1945 L. R. Gribble Battle Stories of R.A.F. xxv. 64 There's no better fun in the world than tangling with the Hun. 1953 E. S. Gardner Case of Green-Eyed Sister (1959) ii. 17 You tangle up with Brogan..and you'll learn something about the noble art of shake-down. 1957 R. Lawler Summer of Seventeenth Doll i. i. 17, I dunno why I always have to get tangled up with little men, just the same. Even Wallie, he was shorter than me. 1958 B. Behan Borstal Boy iii. 185, I don't like tangling with anyone, but Ickey Summers was the sort of little bastard that would pick a fight with you until he lost and the best thing to do with him was to make sure that he lost the first time. 1960 M. Stewart My Brother Michael ix. 118, I didn't particularly want to tangle with Danielle. 1966 P. O'Donnell Sabre-Tooth xviii. 244, I fancy we'll tangle in the long run, Willie. But not for a while. 1978 J. B. Hilton Some run Crooked xi. 116 There were men here who had nothing particular to hide, but who had learned..that it was better not to tangle with Kenworthy. 1982 Times 10 Dec. 11/5 The mood of the House was sombre, and he had no desire to tangle with the Secretary of State. |
6. Comb. of the verb-stem with an object, as tangle-leg(s, that which tangles the legs: a popular name of an American shrub, the Hobble-bush, Viburnum lantanoides; also for strong beer or spirits; cf. tanglefoot b; tangle-toad, a name for the creeping buttercup, Ranunculus repens (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v. Hobble Bush, A straggling shrub, also called Tangle-Legs and Wayfaring. 1880 R. Jefferies Gt. Estate iv. 68 Some more ‘tangle-legs’—for thus they called the strong beer. 1882 Sala Amer. Revisit. (1885) 285 The particular kind of whiskey known as ‘tangle-leg’. |
▪ VI. † ˈtangle, v.2 Obs.
[freq. of tang v.2: see -le 3.]
intr. To give out a quick succession of ringing sounds. Cf. twangle, tinkle. Hence † ˈtangling vbl. n.2
| c 1580 J. Jeffere Bugbears Epil., Song ii. in Archiv Stud. Neu. Spr. (1897), With janglynges, with banglynges, with tanglynges, A sprityng go we! a 1652 Brome Queene's Exchange ii. ii, The great Bells of our Town, they tingle they tangle, They jingle they jangle, the Tenner of them goes merrily. |