sinuous

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sinuōsus.

adj

1. Having curves in alternate directions; meandering.
   We followed every bend of the sinuous river.
   [W]hen a transverse, or, within certain limits, an oblique impulse, impinges laterally upon a continuous mountain range, two movements of vibration are communicated; the one, a wave transmitted along and in the line of the axis, the other a transverse wave, which causes the axial line to sway laterally, and transmit a quam prox. horizontal transverse wave, along from one end to the other; like the sinuous movement which travels along a long rope when, hanging suspended between two points at the same level, it is jerked suddenly at one end, transversely to its length. 1862, Robert Mallet, Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The First Principles of Observational Seismology as Developed in the Report to the Royal Society of London of the Expedition Made by Command of the Society into the Interior of the Kingdom of Naples, to Investigate the Circumstances of the Great Earthquake of December 1857. … In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, page 276
   [A] peculiar luminous and sinuous marking appeared on the unillumined half of the inner planet, and almost simultaneously a faint dark mark of a similar sinuous character was detected upon a photograph of the Martian disc. 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 300
   The way through the wood was shorter, but it was also sinuous. He missed his way, and, as a direct consequence, missed his train. 1922, E[dith] Nesbit, The Lark, London: Hutchinson, →OCLC
   My own apprehension rose again to a superlative pitch as we swept down from St. Neots at all but 110 m.p.h. towards those sinuous curves round the bank of the Ouse near Offord, and were almost on to them before we suddenly braked. 1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263
   This is the perfect climbing tree: wrought by two centuries of good London living, its sinuous spread presents any number of routes into the canopy. 28 March 2016, Jack Cooke, “Heaven up here: the joy of urban tree climbing”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2016-04-25
2. Moving gracefully and in a supple manner.
   We were entranced by her sinuous dance.
3. (figurative) Morally crooked; shifty.
   On 16 December 1999, Lanny Davis, one of the President's more sinuous apologists, was asked on an MSNBC chat show to address the issue and replied that Ms. Broaddrick had been adjudged unreliable by the FBI. 2000, Christopher Hitchens, No One Left to Lie to: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton