ambages noun pl. [am'beɪdʒi:z, 'ambɪdʒɪz] Formerly, esp. in sense 1, also sing. ambage. LME.
[Old & mod. French from Latin ambages, from amb- both ways + agere to drive (cf. AMBIGUOUS). Naturalized from French until 7, but latterly treated as Latin.]
1. Roundabout or indirect modes of speech, for deceit, concealment, or delay. Now rare exc. as coinciding with fig. uses of sense 2. LME.
■ Chaucer If Calkas lede us with ambages, That is to seyn, with dowble wordes slye.
■ A. Behn Without more ambages, Sir, I have..consented to marry him. Observer Popular literature is happiest when it can evade the ambages of language and fulfil itself in some unequivocal visual form like the cinema.
2. Indirect or roundabout paths, circuitous ways. Now chiefly fig. (lit. arch.). M16.
■ Bacon He shall, by Ambages of diets, bathings, anointings, etc. prolong life.
■ Swift The other cost me so many strains and traps and ambages to introduce.
■ S. Pegge You will find it, through the windings and ambages, eight, or perhaps nine miles.

■ ambagious [am'beɪdʒǝs] adjective full of ambages, roundabout L16.

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