ambages Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (archaic) roundabout or mysterious ways of action
  2. noun a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things
    periphrasis; circumlocution; ambage.

WordNet

Am*ba"ges noun plural
Etymology
L. (usually in pl.); pref. ambi-, amb- + agere to drive: cf. F. ambage.
Definitions
  1. A circuit; a winding. Hence: Circuitous way or proceeding; quibble; circumlocution; indirect mode of speech.
    After many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is. Burton.

Webster 1913