Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ambages \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.

Source : WordNet®

ambages
     n : (archaic) roundabout or mysterious ways of action