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A motion in dancing, when one leg is a little bent, and raised from the floor, and with the other a forward motion is made. Chambers.

To bend; to stop; to bow. [Obs.] Then I courbed on my knees. Piers Plowman.

reverence, made by women, consisting of a slight depression or dropping of the body, with bending of the kness. [Written also curtsy.] The lady drops a courtesy in token of obedience, and the ceremony proceeds as usual. Golgsmith.

crop planted, esp. in orchards. as a protection to the soil in winter, as well as for the benefit of the soil when plowed under in spring.

To stoop by bending the knees; to crouch; to squat; hence, to quail; to sink through fear. Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire. Dryden. Like falcons, cowering on the nest. Goldsmith.

, short body, covered with a strong shell or carapace. The abdomen is small and curled up beneath the body.

A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron.

A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.

A bent portion of an axle, or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. See Bell crank.

Formed with, or having, a bend or crank; as, a cranked axle.

To break into bends, turns, or angles; to crinkle. Old Veg's stream . . . drew her humid train aslope, Crankling her banks. J. Philips.

er. He was hardly able to crawl about the room. Arbuthnot. The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my eyes. Byron.

A slow rising of the floor of a gallery, occasioned by the pressure of incumbent strata upon the pillars or sides; a gradual movement of mining ground.

Increase; enlargement. [Obs.] And toward the moon's attractive crescence bend. H. Brooke.

The upper curve of a horse's neck. Throwing the base thong from his bending crest. Shak.

A poetic foot, composed of one short syllable between two long ones (-Bentley.

A twist or bend; a turn; a whimsey. [Colloq.] Hudibras.

To draw one's self together as in fear or servility; to bend or crouch with base humility; to wince; hence; to make court in a degrading manner; to fawn. When they were come up to the place where the lions were, the boys that went before were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the lions. Bunyan. Sly hypocri…

To form with short turns, bends, or wrinkles; to mold into inequalites or sinuosities; to cause to wrinkle or curl. The houscrinkled to and fro. Chaucer. Her face all bowsy, Comely crinkled, Wondrously wrinkled. Skelton. The flames through all the casements pushing forth, Like red-not devils crinkled into snakes. Mrs.…

Having short bends, turns, or wrinkles; wrinkled; wavy; zigzag. "The crinkled lightning." Lowell.