In*volve" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Involved (?); p. pr.
& vb. n. Involving.]
[L. involvere, involutum, to roll about, wrap up; pref. in- in + volvere to roll: cf. OF. involver. See Voluble, and cf. Involute.]
1. To roll or fold
up; to wind
round; to entwine.
Some of serpent kind . . . involved
Their snaky folds.
Milton.
2. To envelop completely; to surround; to cover; to hide; to involve in darkness or obscurity.
And leave a singèd bottom all involved
With stench and smoke.
Milton.
3. To complicate or make intricate, as in grammatical structure. "Involved discourses." Locke.
4. To connect with something as a natural or
logical consequence
or effect; to include necessarily; to imply.
He
knows
His end with mine involved.
Milton.
The contrary
necessarily involves a contradiction.
Tillotson. 5. To take in; to gather in; to
mingle confusedly; to blend or merge. [R.]
The gathering number, as it moves along,
Involves a vast involuntary throng.
Pope. Earth with hell
To mingle and involve.
Milton.
6. To envelop, infold, entangle, or embarrass; as, to involve a person in debt or misery.
7. To engage thoroughly; to occupy, employ, or absorb. "Involved in a deep study."
Sir W. Scott.
8. (Math.) To raise to any assigned power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of times; as, a quantity involved
to the third or fourth power.
Syn. -- To imply; include; implicate; complicate;
entangle; embarrass;
overwhelm. -- To Involve, Imply.
Imply is opposed to express, or set forth; thus, an implied engagement is one fairly to
be understood from the words used or the circumstances of the case, though not set forth in
form. Involve goes beyond the mere interpretation of things into their necessary relations;
and hence, if one thing
involves another, it so contains it that the two
must go together by an indissoluble connection. War, for example, involves wide spread misery and death; the premises of a syllogism involve
the conclusion.