Tortuousness

2 definitions found

From 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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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  tortuousness
       n : a tortuous and twisted shape or position; "they built a tree
           house in the tortuosities of its boughs"; "the acrobat
           performed incredible contortions" [syn: {tortuosity}, {torsion},
            {contortion}, {crookedness}]