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The act or state of bending downward; inclination; as, declination of the head.

To bend, or lean downward; to take a downward direction; to bend over or hang down, as from weakness, weariness, despondency, etc.; to condescend. "With declining head." Shak. He . . . would decline even to the lowest of his family. Lady Hutchinson. Disdaining to decline, Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries. Byron…

To cause to turn aside; to bend; as, rays of light are often deflected. Sitting with their knees deflected under them. Lord (1630).

ng aside, or state of being turned aside; a turning from a right line or proper course; a bending, esp. downward; deviation. The other leads to the same point, through certain deflections. Lowth.

A bending or turning aside; deflection. Bailey.

Bending down; sloping. [Obs.]

A bending downward; a sloping; incurvation downward; declivity. [R.] Davies (Wit's Pilgr.)

To make of two thicknesses or folds by turning or bending together in the middle; to fold one part upon another part of; as, to double the leaf of a book, and the like; to clinch, as the fist; -- often followed by up; as, to double up a sheet of paper or cloth. Prior. Then the old man Was wroth, and doubled up his hand…

To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson. I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish. Swift.…

To make dumpy; to fold, or bend, as one part over another. [R.] He was a little man, dumpled up together. Sir W. Scott.

figure assumed by the longitudinal axis of an originally straight bar under any system of bending forces. Rankine. -- Elastic fluids, those which have the property of expanding in all directions on the removal of external pressure, as the air, steam, and other gases and vapors. -- Elastic limit (Mech.), the limit of…

The joint or bend of the arm; the outer curve in the middle of the arm when bent. Her arms to the elbows naked. R. of Gloucester.

Having the edge broken like battlements; -- said of a bearing such as a fess, bend, or the like.

To bend like a bow; to curve. "Embowed arches." [Obs. or R.] Sir W. Scott. With gilded horns embowed like the moon. Spenser.

Bent into a curve; -- said of a bend or other ordinary.

o of an ordinary, when its two ends to issue from the mouths of lions, or the like; as, a bend engouled.

Indented with small concave curves, as the edge of a bordure, bend, or the like.

A splice formed by bending a rope's and back, and fastening it into the rope, forming a loop or eye. See Illust. under Splice.

The action of a horse, when he throws himself on his haunches two or three times, bending himself, as it were, in very quick curvets. Harris.

The state of being falcate; a bend in the form of a sickle. Sir T. Browne.