Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tangle \Tan"gle\, n.
   1. [Cf. Icel. [thorn]["o]ngull. See {Tang} seaweed.] (Bot.)
      Any large blackish seaweed, especially the {Laminaria
      saccharina}. See {Kelp}.

            Coral and sea fan and tangle, the blooms and the
            palms of the ocean.                   --C. Kingsley.

   2. [From {Tangle}, v.] A knot of threads, or other thing,
      united confusedly, or so interwoven as not to be easily
      disengaged; a snarl; as, hair or yarn in tangles; a tangle
      of vines and briers. Used also figuratively.

   3. pl. An instrument consisting essentially of an iron bar to
      which are attached swabs, or bundles of frayed rope, or
      other similar substances, -- used to capture starfishes,
      sea urchins, and other similar creatures living at the
      bottom of the sea.

   {Blue tangle}. (Bot.)See {Dangleberry}.

   {Tangle picker} (Zo["o]l.), the turnstone. [Prov. Eng.]