TANGLE

To unite or knit together confusedly; to interweave or interlock, as threads, so as to make it difficult to unravel the knot; to entangle; to ravel.

To involve; to insnare; to entrap; as, to be tangled in lies. "Tangled in amorous nets." Milton. When my simple weakness strays, Tangled in forbidden ways. Crashaw.

To be entangled or united confusedly; to get in a tangle.

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.

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.

An instrument consisting essentiallly 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 (Zoöl.), the turnstone. [Prov. Eng.]