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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Tortuous \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 leaf or corolla.
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The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the
side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick.
--Macaulay.
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2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous;
deceitful.
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That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the
battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the
Jakobites. --Macaulay.
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3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.]
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4. (Astrol.) Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the
zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most
rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] --Skeat.
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Infortunate ascendent tortuous. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster] --{Tor"tu*ous*ly}, adv. --
{Tor"tu*ous*ness}, n.
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