ambages

[ am-bey-jeez ]

nounArchaic.(used with a plural verb)

winding, roundabout paths or ways.

Origin of ambages

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin ambāgēs (plural) “circuits,” equivalent to amb(i)- ambi- + -āg- (combining form of agere “to move”) + -ēs plural ending; cf. indagate

Words Nearby ambages

How to use ambages in a sentence

Its origin is involved in obscurity: but may it not be a corruption of the Latin ambages, or the singular ablative ambage?
Notes and Queries, Number 194, July 16, 1853 | Various
Give me your hand, and answer me without ambages, or ambiguities.
Dryden's Works Vol. 3 (of 18) | John Dryden
Après l'exposé, Arsay entra alors carrément dans le vif de la discussion et posa le problème sans ambages, dans son vrai jour.
Histoires grises | E. Edouard Tavernier
Peter begins to beat about the bush (discurrere per ambages), and declares it to be heretical to quote an infidel like Merlin.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II) | Henry Osborn Taylor
Longa est injuria, longæ ambages; but the story rests on the evidence of independent witnesses.
The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 | Lord Byron

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