ambages
English
Etymology
From Old French ambages (French ambages), from Latin ambāges, from ambi- + agere (“to drive”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈam.bɪ.d͡ʒɪz/
Noun
ambages pl (plural only)
- (archaic) Indirect or roundabout ways of talking; circumlocution.
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):, Bk.I, New York, 2001, p.169:
- Having thus briefly anatomized the body and soul of man, […] I may now freely proceed to treat of my intended subject, to most men's capacity; and after many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is […].
-
- (archaic) Indirect or roundabout routes or directions.
- 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:
- Paris put fear into him, a city of monstrous size to which London was but a market town. Its ambages of streets bewildered.
- 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:
Translations
indirect or roundabout ways of talking — see circumlocution
indirect or roundabout routes or directions
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /amˈbaː.ɡeːs/
Noun
ambāgēs f (genitive ambāgis); third declension
- circuit (roundabout way)
- long story
- circumlocution, evasion, digression
- ambiguity
Inflection
Third declension, alternative accusative singular in -im, alternative ablative singular in -ī and accusative plural in -īs.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | ambāgēs | ambāgēs |
Genitive | ambāgis | ambāgium |
Dative | ambāgī | ambāgibus |
Accusative | ambāgem ambāgim |
ambāgēs ambāgīs |
Ablative | ambāge ambāgī |
ambāgibus |
Vocative | ambāgēs | ambāgēs |
References
- ambages in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ambages in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- ambages in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- ambages in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
- to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
Old French
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /amˈbaxes/, [ãmˈbaxes]
Noun
ambages m pl (plural only)
- circumlocution, ambages (indirect or roundabout ways of talking)
- (rare) ambages (indirect or roundabout routes or directions)
Synonyms
Derived terms
- ambagioso
Further reading
- “ambages” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
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