devious

1590s, "out of the common or direct way," from Latin devius (“out of the way, remote, off the main road”), from de via, from de (“off”) (see de-) + via (“way, road”). Compare deviate. Originally in the Latin literal sense; the figurative sense of "deceitful" is first recorded 1630s. Related to deviously, deviousness. Figurative senses of the Latin word were "retired, sequestered, wandering in the byways, foolish, inconsistent."

• IPA^(key): /ˈdiː.vi.əs/

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  Rhymes: -iːviəs

devious (comparative more devious, superlative most devious)

1. Cunning or deceiving, not straightforward or honest, not frank.
2. Roundabout, circuitous, deviating from the direct or ordinary route.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC:

     The wandering Arab never sets his tent
     Within her walls; the Shepherd eyes afar
     Her evil towers, and devious drives his flock.

   • 1839, Frederick Marryat, The Phantom Ship:

     Keeping close in to the shore, they discovered, after two hours run, a fresh stream which burst in a cascade from the mountains, and swept its devious course through the jungle, until it poured its tribute into the waters of the Strait.

   • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC:

     We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Epilogue”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.