[f. TANGLE v.1]
1. A tangled condition, or concr. a tangled mass; a complication of threads, hairs, fibers, branches, boughs, or the like, confusedly intertwined or interlaced, or of a single long thread, line, or rope, involved in coils, loops, and knots; a snarl, ravel, or complicated loose knot. Also transf. of streams, paths, etc., similarly intertwisted or confused.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 20. That it [the soil] may run among the small tangles [of the roots] without straining or bruising.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 69. To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neæra’s hair. Ibid. (1667), P. L., IX. 632. Hee [the serpent] leading swiftly rowld In tangles, and made intricate seem strait, To mischief swift.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 35. If upon combing his head he meets with a tangle that tears off two or three hairs.
1842. Darwin, in Life & Lett. (1887), I. 321. This bow became covered with a tangle of creepers.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxix. 378. The rise and fall of the tides always breaks up the ice … in a tangle of irregular, half-floating masses.
1861. D. Cook, P. Foster’s D., vii. One of a small tangle of courts between Long Acre and New Street, Covent Garden.
1873. Hale, In His Name, v. 26. In a tangle of low, scrubby oaks.
1879. M. D. Conway, Demonol., I. III. ix. 386. The Gorgon’s head … with its fearful tangle of serpent tresses.
190[?]. Adeline Sergeant, May’s Cousin, i. 3. Her hair was all in a tangle.
Mod. This string is all in a tangle.
b. spec. A dredger for sweeping the sea-bed, consisting of a bar to which are attached a number of hempen ‘mops,’ in the fibers of which the more delicate marine specimens are entangled.
1883. Leslie, trans. Nordenskiöld’s Voy. Vega, 97. The hempen tangles were used, and brought up a very abundant yield of large, beautiful animal forms.
1884. Science, IV. 227/2. The true province of the tangles is a very rocky bottom, where neither the dredge nor trawl can be safely used.
2. fig. A complicated and confused assemblage; a muddle, jumble, complication, medley, puzzle; a confused network of opinions, facts, etc.; also, a perplexed state.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. Poet. Wks. (1761), 110. And silent, in the tangles soft involv’d Of death-like sleep.
1800. Coleridge, Death Wallenst., 183. Where’s he that will unravel This tangle, ever tangling more and more?
1858. Sears, Athan., III. x. 330. The tangles of metaphysics in which they sought to involve the great Apostle.
1866. J. H. Newman, Gerontius, v. 42. Methinks I know To disengage the tangle of thy words.
1873. Morley, Rousseau, II. 126. The complex tangle of the history of social growths.
1883. Sir T. Martin, Ld. Lyndhurst, xi. 285. The skill with which he reduced into method and compass the enormous tangle of facts and figures.
3. Comb. = in a tangle, tangled, as tangle-twine, -twist, -wood; tangle-haired, -headed, -tailed adjs.; also tangle-swab, one of the mops of a tangle for dredging (sense 1 b).
1861. L. L. Noble, Icebergs, 68. They were a russet, *tangle-haired and shaggy-bearded set.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 15 Aug., 15/3. A gipsy woman, with *tangle-headed children, carrying faggots on their backs.
1884. Science, IV. 148/1. Several *tangle-swabs were generally attached to the hinder end of the bag. Ibid., 227/2. The use of hempen tangle-swabs attached to the dredge was introduced by the English exploring-steamer Porcupine in 1868 or 1869.
1883. W. G. Collingwood, Philos. Ornament, v. 121. The builders of early Italian cathedrals … now run wild with the northern *tangle-tailed mysteries.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 94. The wreaths, *Tangle-twine of leaf and bloom.
1889. Chicago Advance, 6 June. ’Twould take ten miles o’ this here *tangletwist to make one. Ibid. (1894), 26 April. He scuttled off in a wild panic through the thick *tanglewood.
