In*volve" (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Involved (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Involving.] [L. involvere, involutum, to roll
about, wrap up; pref. in- in + volvere to roll: cf. OF.
involver. See Voluble, and cf. Involute.]
1. To roll or fold up; to wind round; to
entwine.
Some of serpent kind . . . involved
Their snaky folds.
Milton.
2. To envelop completely; to surround; to
cover; to hide; to involve in darkness or obscurity.
And leave a singèd bottom all
involved
With stench and smoke.
Milton.
3. To complicate or make intricate, as in
grammatical structure. "Involved discourses."
Locke.
4. To connect with something as a natural or
logical consequence or effect; to include necessarily; to
imply.
He knows
His end with mine involved.
Milton.
The contrary necessarily involves a
contradiction.
Tillotson.
5. To take in; to gather in; to mingle
confusedly; to blend or merge. [R.]
The gathering number, as it moves along,
Involves a vast involuntary throng.
Pope.
Earth with hell
To mingle and involve.
Milton.
6. To envelop, infold, entangle, or
embarrass; as, to involve a person in debt or
misery.
7. To engage thoroughly; to occupy, employ,
or absorb. "Involved in a deep study." Sir W.
Scott.
8. (Math.) To raise to any assigned
power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of
times; as, a quantity involved to the third or fourth
power.
Syn. -- To imply; include; implicate; complicate; entangle;
embarrass; overwhelm. -- To Involve, Imply.
Imply is opposed to express, or set forth; thus,
an implied engagement is one fairly to be understood from the
words used or the circumstances of the case, though not set forth in
form. Involve goes beyond the mere interpretation of things
into their necessary relations; and hence, if one thing
involves another, it so contains it that the two must go
together by an indissoluble connection. War, for example,
involves wide spread misery and death; the premises of a
syllogism involve the conclusion.
