Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A roundabout way; a circumlocution.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Jocular A roundabout or indirect way.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
indirect orroundabout - noun A
roundabout route or process - noun A
roundabout ,indirect , orconfusing manner ofspeech orwriting
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Our intention was to travel north, as we knew that was the road leading from the colony; but Hastings had decided that we should first go to the eastward, so as to make what we sailors call a circumbendibus, which would keep us out of the general track.
Masterman Ready The Wreck of the "Pacific" Frederick Marryat 1820
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And believe I will just fancy I see this place too; it sounds rather a "circumbendibus" for us this journey.
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I thanked my unknown friend in the mask, and withdrawing a few steps, came, by a little "circumbendibus," upon the flank of the Count.
The Room in the Dragon Volant Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 1843
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"It took what that literal fellow, Captain Lawton, calls a circumbendibus,
The Spy James Fenimore Cooper 1820
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Heavy-tree Heath; and from that, with a circumbendibus, I fairly lodged them in the horse-pond at the bottom of the garden.
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I thanked my unknown friend in the mask, and withdrawing a few steps, came, by a little “circumbendibus,” upon the flank of the Count.
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When you have gone a couple of miles, make a circumbendibus back again to the night-house frequented by your set, and relate the adventure, with the same voice and countenance as a broker quotes the price of stocks; then order a cool bottle of claret with the air of a man who has done a meritorious action!
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 327, January, 1843 Various
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I then introduced them to the gibbet on Heavy-tree Heath; and from that, with a circumbendibus, I fairly lodged them in the horse-pond at the bottom of the garden.
Act the Fifth 1909
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Shakespeare is not pointing out, in 'The knave turns fool that runs away,' that the wise knave who runs away is really a 'fool with a circumbendibus, '' moral miscalculator as well as moral coward. '
Shakespearean Tragedy Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth 1893
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It was rather a circumbendibus sort of affair, and somewhat narrow in places, though everywhere there was sufficient room to work the _Lily_ in; and after a run of about half an hour, we shot out between two overhanging ledges, the extremities of which showed about, six feet above water, and found ourselves rising and falling on the long swell of the open ocean.
For Treasure Bound Harry Collingwood 1886
reesetee commented on the word circumbendibus
Heehee! Love this word.
October 25, 2007
seanahan commented on the word circumbendibus
This one deserves a definitive "Wow, awesome".
October 26, 2007
jmjarmstrong commented on the word circumbendibus
JM loves a good, old fashioned circumbendibus but they are so hard to get these days perhaps it could be the influence of all these electrical games and things that the youngsters play with and this singing that sounds like talking.
July 16, 2010