%flex%

n. [ L. circumflexus a bending round, fr. circumflectere, circumflexum, to bend or turn about; circum + flectere to bend. See Flexible. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A wave of the voice embracing both a rise and fall or a fall and a rise on the same a syllable. Walker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A character, or accent, denoting in Greek a rise and of the voice on the same long syllable, marked thus [ ~ or &unr_; ]; and in Latin and some other languages, denoting a long and contracted syllable, marked [ &unr_; or ^ ]. See Accent, n., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Circumflexed p. pr. & vb. n. Circumflexing ] To mark or pronounce with a circumflex. Walker. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. L. circumflexus, p. p. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Moving or turning round; circuitous. [ R. ] Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) Curved circularly; -- applied to several arteries of the hip and thigh, to arteries, veins, and a nerve of the shoulder, and to other parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of bending, or causing to assume a curved form. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A winding about; a turning; a circuity; a fold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bent abruptly downward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Deflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From L. deflectere, deflexum. See Deflect. ] A bending or turning aside; deflection. Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Flexed p. pr. & vb. n. Flexing. ] [ L. flexus, p. p. of flectere to bend, perh. flectere and akin to falx sickle, E. falchion. Cf. Flinch. ] To bend; as, to flex the arm. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Flax. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexanimus; flectere, flexum, to bend + animus mind. ] Having power to change the mind. [ Obs. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. flexibilitas: cf. F. flexibilite. ] The state or quality of being flexible; flexibleness; pliancy; pliability; as, the flexibility of strips of hemlock, hickory, whalebone or metal, or of rays of light. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the flexibility of a veteran courtier. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexibilis: cf. F. flexible. ] 1. Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering. [ 1913 Webster ]

Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic, ; as, a flexible language. [ 1913 Webster ]

This was a principle more flexible to their purpose. Rogers.

Syn. -- Pliant; pliable; supple; tractable; manageable; ductile; obsequious; inconstant; wavering.

-- Flex"i*ble*ness, n. -- Flex"i*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexus bent + E. costate. ] (Anat.) Having bent or curved ribs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexilis. ] Flexible; pliant; pliable; easily bent; plastic; tractable. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. flexio: cf. F. flexion. ] 1. The act of flexing or bending; a turning. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A bending; a part bent; a fold. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) Syntactical change of form of words, as by declension or conjugation; inflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

Express the syntactical relations by flexion. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Physiol.) The bending of a limb or joint; that motion of a joint which gives the distal member a continually decreasing angle with the axis of the proximal part; -- distinguished from extension. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] (Anat.) A muscle which bends or flexes any part; as, the flexors of the arm or the hand; -- opposed to extensor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ short for flexible time. ] A system of scheduling working hours in places of employment, which allows employees to arrive at and leave work at times of their own choice, providing that they work the required number of hours and usually requiring that they be present during certain hours, called core time. Certain workers prefer to arrive early and leave early, and others prefer to arrive late and leave late. Flex time is a way to accommodate such preferences, presumably improving employee morale, and also helps reduce traffic congestion during commmuting times. [ PJC ]

a. Flexuous. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. flexuosus, fr. flexus a bending, turning. ] 1. Having turns, windings, or flexures. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Having alternate curvatures in opposite directions; bent in a zigzag manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Wavering; not steady; flickering. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Flexure. ] Of, pertaining to, or resulting from, flexure; of the nature of, or characterized by, flexure; as, flexural elasticity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. flexura. ] 1. The act of flexing or bending; a turning or curving; flexion; hence, obsequious bowing or bending. [ 1913 Webster ]

Will it give place to flexure and low bending? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A turn; a bend; a fold; a curve. [ 1913 Webster ]

Varying with the flexures of the valley through which it meandered. British Quart. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The last joint, or bend, of the wing of a bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Astron.) The small distortion of an astronomical instrument caused by the weight of its parts; the amount to be added or substracted from the observed readings of the instrument to correct them for this distortion. [ 1913 Webster ]

The flexure of a curve (Math.), the bending of a curve towards or from a straight line. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. génuflexion, fr. LL. genuflexio, fr. L. genu knee + flexio a bending, fr. flectere, flexum, to bend. See Knee, Flexible. ] The act of bending the knee, particularly in worship or reverence. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Flex, Inflect. ] To bend; to cause to become curved; to make crooked; to deflect. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Turned; bent. Feltham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Bent or turned abruptly inwards, or toward the axis, as the petals of a flower. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. inflexibilité. ] The quality or state of being inflexible, or not capable of being bent or changed; unyielding stiffness; inflexibleness; rigidity; firmness of will or purpose; unbending pertinacity; steadfastness; resoluteness; unchangeableness; obstinacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

The inflexibility of mechanism. A. Baxter. [ 1913 Webster ]

That grave inflexibility of soul. Churchill. [ 1913 Webster ]

The purity and inflexibility of their faith. T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. inflexiblis: cf. F. inflexible. See In- not, and Flexible. ] 1. Not capable of being bent; stiff; rigid; firm; unyielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Firm in will or purpose; not to be turned, changed, or altered; resolute; determined; unyieding; inexorable; stubborn. [ 1913 Webster ]

“Inflexibleas steel.” Miltom. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man of upright and inflexible temper . . . can overcome all private fear. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Incapable of change; unalterable; immutable. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nature of things is inflexible. I. Watts.

Syn. -- -- Unbending; unyielding; rigid; inexorable; pertinacious; obstinate; stubborn; unrelenting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being inflexible; inflexibility; rigidity; firmness. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an inflexible manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Inflection. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Inflective. [ 1913 Webster ]

“Inflexive endings.” W. E. Jelf. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Inflexible. [ R. ] “Foes inflexive.” Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An inflection; a bend or fold. [ R. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Flexed or bent inward. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. reflexus, p. p. of reflectere: cf. F. réflexe. See Reflect. ] 1. Directed back; attended by reflection; retroactive; introspective. [ 1913 Webster ]

The reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the intellectual eye inward upon its own actions. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Produced in reaction, in resistance, or in return. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Physiol.) Of, pertaining to, or produced by, stimulus or excitation without the necessary intervention of consciousness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells. --
Reflex nerve (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See Exito-motory. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. reflexus a bending back. See Reflect. ] 1. Reflection; the light reflected from an illuminated surface to one in shade. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yon gray is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

On the depths of death there swims
The reflex of a human face. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) An involuntary movement produced by reflex action. [ 1913 Webster ]

Patellar reflex. See Knee jerk, under Knee. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. reflexus, p. p. of reflectere. See Reflect. ] 1. To reflect. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bend back; to turn back. J. Gregory. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bent backward or outward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. réflexibilité. ] The quality or capability of being reflexible; as, the reflexibility of the rays of light. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ CF. F. réflexible. ] Capable of being reflected, or thrown back. [ 1913 Webster ]

The light of the sun consists of rays differently refrangible and reflexible. Cheyne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Reflection. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or condition of being reflected. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. [ Cf. F. réflexif. ] Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Implying censure. [ Obs. ] “What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word?” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as, the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Re*flex"ive*ly, adv. -- Re*flex"ive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a reflex manner; reflectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Pref. retro- + L. flectere, flexum, to bend, to turn. ] Reflexed; bent or turned abruptly backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of reflexing; the state of being retroflexed. Cf. Retroversion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Half bent. [ 1913 Webster ]