In-vŏlve', v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. INVOLVED; p. pr. & vb. n. INVOLVING.] [Lat. involvere, involutum, to roll about, wrap up, from prefix in and volvere, to roll; It. involvere, Fr. involuer, Pr. & Sp. envolver.]
Sense 1. To roll up; to wind round.
Some of serpent kind . . . involved Their snaky folds. Milton.
Sense 2. To envelop in any thing which exists on all sides; as, to involve in darkness or obscurity.
And leave a singed bottom all involved With stench and smoke. Milton.
Sense 3. To complicate or make intricate; to entangle. “Florid, witty, involved discourses.” Locke.
Sense 4. To connect by way of natural consequence or effect.
He knows his end with mine involved. Milton.
Sense 5. To include by rational or logical construction; to require or authorize by interpretation or inference; to comprise; to contain.
We can not demonstrate these things so as to show that the contrary necessarily involves a contradiction. Tillotson.
Sense 6. To overwhelm; to embarrass; as, to involve in debt or misery.
Sense 7. To take in; to catch; to conjoin.
The gathering number, as it moves along, Involves a vast involuntary throng. Pope.
Sense 8. To blend; to mingle confusedly. “Earth with hell mingle and involve.” Milton.
Sense 9. (Math.) To raise to any assigned power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of times; as, a quantity involved to the third or fourth power.
Synonyms— To imply; implicate; complicate; entangle; embarrass; overwhelm. — To INVOLVE, IMPLY. Imply is opposed to express, or set forth; thus, an implied engagement is one fairly to be understood from the words used or the circumstances of the case, though not set forth in form. Involve goes beyond the mere interpretation of things into their necessary relations; and hence, if one thing involves another, it so contains it that the two must go together by an indissoluble connection. War, for example, involves wide-spread misery and death; the premises of a syllogism involve the conclusion, so that this kind of reasoning is a simple process of evolution. “Where a malicious act is proved, a malicious intention is implied.” Sherlock. “We can not demonstrate these things so as to show that the contrary necessarily involves a contradiction.” Tillotson.