Dictionary entry

Ambages

Webster's Dictionary 1913

‖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.