Of thoughts, conceptions, statements, etc.: Perplexingly involved or complicated in meaning; entangled; obscure.

= crabbed, adj. 5–7. Obsolete.

Involved, intricate. Obsolete.

Of writings, authors, etc.: Ruggedly or perversely intricate; difficult to unravel, construe, deal with, or make sense of.

Of intorted or twisted nature; in quot. 1575 figurative.

Entwined; also figurative. Involved, complicated; = implex, adj.

figurative. Complicated, involved. Obsolete. rare.

Misused for tortuous, adj.

Of writing or speech: excessively intricate or complicated; obscure. Now rare.

Involved; having a complicated plot.

figurative. Involved, intricate. Scottish.

With up. Involved, complicated; couched in complex, covert, or vague terms.

Of the form of the Lernæan Hydra.

figurative. Involving perversion or violent dislocation (of words, etc.): cf. torture, n. 3, torture, v. 3b.

transferred. Intricate, complex; roundabout.

figurative. Not direct or straightforward; indirect, irregular, devious, circuitous, crooked: esp. in a moral sense. (In quot. 1801 apparently…

figurative.