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The willow; willow twigs. [Poetic] Tennyson. And bend the pliant sallow to a shield. Fawkes. The sallow knows the basketmaker's thumb. Emerson.

emblem of authority; to invest with royal authority. To Britain's queen the sceptered suppliant bends. Tickell.

Hence, ductile; malleable; pliant; manageable. In the greater bodies the forge was easy, the matter being ductile and sequacious. Ray.

fix beforehand; to determine; hence, to make unyielding or obstinate; to render stiff, unpliant, or rigid; as, to set one's countenance. His eyes were set by reason of his age. 1 Kings xiv. 4. On these three objects his heart was set. Macaulay. Make my heart as a millstone, set my face as a flint. Tennyson.…

A soft, pliant leather, prepared originally from the skin of the chamois, but now made also from the skin of the sheep, goat, kid, deer, and calf. See Shamoying. [Written also chamois, shamoy, and shamois.]

Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints. [They] rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aërial sky. Milton.

tiono make stiff; to make less pliant or flexible; as, to stiffen cloth with starch. Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. Shak.

The state of being submissive; acknowledgement of inferiority or dependence; humble or suppliant behavior; meekness; resignation. In all submission and humility York doth present himself unto your highness. Shak. No duty in religion is more justly required by God . . . than a perfect submission to his will in all thing…

Pliant; flexible; easily bent; as, supple joints; supple fingers.

In a supple manner; softly; pliantly; mildly. Cotgrave.

One who supplicates; a suppliant. The wise supplicant . . . left the event to God. Rogers.

senses; as, to take a form or shape. I take thee at thy word. Rowe. Yet thy moist clay is pliant to command; . . . Not take the mold. Dryden. To be taken aback, To take advantage of, To take air, etc. See under Aback, Advantage, etc. -- To take aim, to direct the eye or weapon; to aim. -- To take along, to carry, lea…

Readly to do or learn; compliant with duty; not froward; apt; docile; tractable; as, a toward youth.

An undoubted or self-evident truth; a statement which is pliantly true; a proposition needing no proof or argument; -- opposed to falsism. Trifling truisms clothed in great, swelling words. J. P. Smith.

Of or pertaining to twigs; made of pliant twigs. "In the hive's vimineous dome." Prior.

Not stiff; pliant; frail; soft; as, the weak stalk of a plant.

A small pliant twig or osier; a rod for making basketwork and the like; a withe.

Resembling a willow; pliant; flexible; pendent; drooping; graceful.

Wriggling; frisky; pliant; flexible. [Obs.] "Their wriggle tails." Spenser.

Inclined to give way, or comply; flexible; compliant; accommodating; as, a yielding temper. Yielding and paying (Law), the initial words of that clause in leases in which the rent to be paid by the lessee is mentioned and reserved. Burrill.