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. [ 1913 Webster ] The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful. [ 1913 Webster ] That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Injurious: tortious. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 4. (Astrol.) Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely. [ Obs. ] Skeat. [ 1913 Webster ] Infortunate ascendent tortuous. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] --Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. -- Tor"tu*ous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ] | 
