ambage
English edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Middle English ambages, from French ambage as well as its etymon Latin ambāgēs (“a roundabout or circuitous path”).[1][2]
Noun edit
ambage (countable and uncountable, plural ambages)
- (literary, often in the plural) Evasive or ambiguous language; circumlocution.
- Puttenham, Art of Poesie
- without any long studie or tedious ambage
- 1607, Decker, Whore of Babylon:
- Umh! y' are full of ambage.
- Puttenham, Art of Poesie
- (literary, often in the plural) An indirect or obscure path.
References edit
- ^ “ambage”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ^ “ambage, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
French edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Latin ambāgēs.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ambage m (plural ambages)
- (chiefly in the plural) ambage
- sans ambages ― straight from the shoulder, bluntly
Further reading edit
- “ambage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ambage f (plural ambagi)
Further reading edit
- ambage in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Latin edit
Noun edit
ambāge