Am-bā'jēs, n.

n. [Lat. ambages, n. (usually in the pl.), from the prefix ambi, amb, and agere, to drive.] A winding or turning;— hence, a circuit of words to express ideas which may be expressed in fewer words; a circumlocution; a periphrasis.

After many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is. Burton.