Also 4–5 tangil, -yl, 4–6 -el(e, 6 -ell. [Known first in later 14th and early 15th c. MSS. of Hampole’s Psalter (a. 1340), as a variant reading for tagil, -yl, the form in the earliest MSS., used also in other works attributed to Hampole: see TAGLE v., of which tangle was app. a nasalized variant.
The vb. thus appears a century and a half earlier than TANGLE sb.1 seaweed, from which some have suggested its derivation. It is however possible that the later senses 4 and 5 may have been associated with and influenced by that sb. TANGLE sb.2 was a direct derivative of the vb.]
† 1. trans. To involve or engage (a person) in affairs which encumber and hamper or embarrass, and from which it is difficult to get free; = ENTANGLE v. 2. Chiefly refl. and pass.; also, to embarrass, confuse (the brain, mind, conscience, etc.).
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxxix. 16 (MS. U.). Na man may wit how many vices ere þat men ere tangild with. [So 8 MSS.: tangild, -gyld, -glyd, -glid, -gled, -geled; 2 earliest MSS. tagild.] Ibid., Abacuc 31 [see TAGLE. v.].
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 63 b. With the whiche he wyll tangle theyr myndes and trouble theyr conscyences.
1526. Tindale, 1 Tim. vi. 10. Coveteousnes…, which whill some lusted after, they … tanglyd them selves with many sorowes.
1530. Palsgr., 752/2. I am tangled in busynesse, and can nat tel howe to wynde me out.
1561. Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc, IV. ii. O happie wight, that suffres not the snare Of murderous minde to tangle him in bloode.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1133/2. The queene tangling hir selfe contrarie to promise in hir husbands quarrell.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1665. Not willingly, but tangl’d in the fold Of dire necessity.
2. To involve in material things that surround or wind about, so as to hamper and obstruct; also, to cover or wreathe with intertwined growth or with something that obstructs. Also fig.
1506–11. Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgr. (Camden), 60. We were soo tangled in among the sayde deserte yles that we coude not gette oute frome amonges them.
1593. Drayton, Eclogues, vi. 167. See where yon little … Lambe of mine It selfe hath tangled in a crawling Breere.
1727. De Foe, Hist. Appar., iv. (1840), 44. But hang … upon the mere thread, and choose to hamper and tangle themselves.
1829. Sir W. Napier, Penins. War, II. 265. He could not, alone, force his way to Lisbon,… through a country tangled with rivers.
1853. G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 144. The sloes and brushwood that tangle the brae.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xx. 250. His journal-entry referring to the 23d, while tangled in the ice.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., x. 280. Beautiful gardens … tangled over with ipomeas and other bright creepers.
1885. R. Buchanan, Annan Water, v. The hedges were tangled with wild rose bushes.
3. To catch and hold fast in or as in a net or snare; to entrap. Chiefly, in early use always, fig.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxii. 15. The farises … toke counsell howe they myght tangle him in his wordes. Ibid., 1 Cor. vii. 35. This speake I … not to tangle you in a snare: but for that which is honest and comly vnto you.
1540–1. Elyot, Image of Gov., 20. They woorke theyr nette so finely … that in one meishe or other he shall be tangled.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 67. Looke how a bird lyes tangled in a net. Ibid. (1593), 2 Hen. VI., II. iv. 55. [They] Haue all lym’d Bushes to betray thy Wings, And flye thou how thou canst, they’le tangle thee.
1635. Barriffe, Mil. Discip., i. (1643), 5. They doe but tangle themselves in their owne snares.
1806. J. Grahame, Birds Scotl., 43. May never fowler’s snare Tangle thy struggling foot.
4. To intertwist (threads, branches, or the like) complicatedly or confusedly together; to intertwist the threads or parts of (a thing) in this way; to put or get (a long thread or a number of threads, etc.) into a tangle. Also fig.
1530. Palsgr., 752/2. I tangell thynges so togyther that they can nat well be parted a sonder…. You have tangled this threde so that it is marred.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 54. They come vp as it weere to one roote, and tangled together.
1665. Phil. Trans., I. 35. Those insects … tangled together by their long tailes.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, iii. App. § 9. As we are wont to tangle the Twigs of Trees together to make an Arbour Artificial.
1850. Scoresby, Cheever’s Whalem. Adv., ix. (1858), 117. As the different coils run from the tub, they sometimes, when not well laid down, get ‘foul’ or tangled.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxii. IV. 798. He had cut the knot which the Congress had only twisted and tangled.
5. intr. for refl. To be or become tangled or confusedly intertwined. In quot. 1908, to have a tangled course, to twist about confusedly.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 175. The falcon bating this way and that way, she shall never twinde nor tangle bicause the ring followeth hir still.
1623. Webster, Duchess Malfi, III. ii. My hair tangles.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, cci. It [dodder] tangleth about it like a net.
1713. J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 204. The whole Plant is clammy, and its branches tangle much.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 3 Sept., 3/1. Above them [graves] tall grass grows and tangles, as if it were holding them together.
1908. Sat. Rev., 26 Sept., 392/1. She wandered … Down lanes that tangled through the countryside.
† b. fig. To become involved in contention. Obs.
1535. St. Papers Hen. VIII., II. 249. Perceyving that thErle of Ossorie soo stedfastely and ernestly tanglid against the same traictors. Ibid. (1536), 330. OConor his he that now moste begynneth newly to tangle ageinst the army.
6. Comb. of the verb-stem with an object, as tangle-leg(s, that which tangles the legs: a popular name of an American shrub, the Hobble-bush, Viburnum lantanoides; also for strong beer or spirits; cf. TANGLEFOOT b; tangle-toad, a name for the creeping buttercup, Ranunculus repens (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
1860. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., s.v. Hobble Bush, A straggling shrub, also called Tangle-Legs and Wayfaring.
1880. R. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, iv. 68. Some more ‘tangle-legs’—for thus they called the strong beer.
1882. Sala, Amer. Revisit. (1885), 285. The particular kind of whiskey known as ‘tangle-leg.’
