Am*ba"ges (#), n. pl. [L. (usually in pl.); pref. ambi-, amb- + agere to drive: cf. F. ambage.]
A circuit; a winding. Hence: Circuitous way or proceeding; quibble; circumlocution; indirect mode of speech.
After many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is.
Burton.
© Webster 1913.