Tor"tu*ous (?), a. [OE. tortuos, L.
tortuosus, fr. tortus a twisting, winding, fr.
torquere, tortum, to twist: cf. F. tortueux. See
Torture.] 1. Bent in different directions; wreathed;
twisted; winding; as, a tortuous train; a tortuous train; a
tortuous leaf or corolla.
The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the
side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.
Macaulay.
2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect;
erroneous; deceitful.
That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the
battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites.
Macaulay.
3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.]
4. (Astrol.) Oblique; -- applied to the six
signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly
and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat.
Infortunate ascendent tortuous.
Chaucer.
--Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. --
Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.
Tor"tu*ous (?), a. [OE. tortuos, L.
tortuosus, fr. tortus a twisting, winding, fr.
torquere, tortum, to twist: cf. F. tortueux. See
Torture.] 1. Bent in different directions; wreathed;
twisted; winding; as, a tortuous train; a tortuous train; a
tortuous leaf or corolla.
The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the
side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.
Macaulay.
2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect;
erroneous; deceitful.
That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the
battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites.
Macaulay.
3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.]
4. (Astrol.) Oblique; -- applied to the six
signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly
and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat.
Infortunate ascendent tortuous.
Chaucer.
--Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. --
Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.
