ambage

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ambages, from French ambage as well as its etymon Latin ambāgēs (“a roundabout or circuitous path”).

Noun

ambage (countable and uncountable, plural ambages)

1. (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.

2. (literary, often in the plural) An indirect or obscure path.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ambāgēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.baʒ/

• Audio (Lyon):

  (file)

Noun

ambage m (plural ambages)

1. (chiefly in the plural) ambage

   sans ambages ― straight from the shoulder, bluntly

Further reading

• “ambage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin ambāgēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /amˈba.d͡ʒe/
• Rhymes: -adʒe
• Hyphenation: am‧bà‧ge

Noun

ambage f (plural ambagi)

1. (usually in the plural) ambage

Further reading

• ambage in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Noun

ambāge

1. ablative singular of ambāgēs