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.
      
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 --{Tortu*ous*ly}, adv. --
      {Tortu*ous*ness}, n.
      
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