Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
TORTUOUS
tortuous
(adjective) not straightforward; “his tortuous reasoning”
Byzantine, convoluted, involved, knotty, tangled, tortuous
(adjective) highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; “the Byzantine tax structure”; “Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship”; “convoluted legal language”; “convoluted reasoning”; “the plot was too involved”; “a knotty problem”; “got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering”; “Oh, what a tangled web we weave”- Sir Walter Scott; “tortuous legal procedures”; “tortuous negotiations lasting for months”
tortuous, twisting, twisty, winding, voluminous
(adjective) marked by repeated turns and bends; “a tortuous road up the mountain”; “winding roads are full of surprises”; “had to steer the car down a twisty track”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous)
(often, figurative) Twisted; having many turns; convoluted.
(astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely.
(obsolete) Injurious; tortious.
Usage notes
• This term has strongly negative connotations, perhaps transferred from the similar-sounding adjective torturous.
• Not to be confused with the legal term tortious.
Source: Wiktionary
Tor"tu*ous, a. Etym: [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 train; a tortuous leaf or corolla. The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick. Macaulay.
2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful. That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites. Macaulay.
3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.]
4. (Astrol.)
Definition: Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat. Infortunate ascendent tortuous. Chaucer. --Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv.
– Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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2 April 2025
COVERT
(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”
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