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Formation of teeth; toothed form. [R.] How did it [a bill] get its barb, its dentation Paley.

A depriving of teeth. [R.] Cockeram.

A notch or recess, in the margin or border of anything; as, the indentations of a leaf, of the coast, etc.

A recess or indentation shaped like a bay.

To make an indentation in the edge of a metal plate, as along a seam in a steam boiler or an iron ship, to force the edge of the upper plate hard against the lower and so fill the crevice.

Chainlike; -- said both or color marks and of indentations when arranged like the links of a chain, as on shells, etc.

A conical recess, or indentation, in the end of a shaft or other work, to receive the point of a center, on which the work can turn, as in a lathe.

To form a recess or indentation for the reception of a center.

The act of crenelating, or the state of being crenelated; an indentation or an embrasure. [Written also crenellation.]

An embrasure or indentation in a battlement; a loophole in a fortress; an indentation; a notch. See Merlon, and Illust. of Battlement.

An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.

A slight depression, or small notch or hollow, made by a blow or by pressure; an indentation. A blow that would have made a dent in a pound of butter. De Quincey.

To make holes or indentations in, as if with a dibble. The clayey soil around it was dibbled thick at the time by the tiny hoofs of sheep. H. Miller.

A slight natural depression or indentation on the surface of some part of the body, esp. on the cheek or chin. Milton. The dimple of her chin. Prior.

The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent. Dryden. Every dint a sword had beaten in it [the shield]. Tennyson.

Having indentations like a battlement. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Indentation in curved lines, as of a line of division or the edge of an ordinary.

A steel instrument, having cutting ridges or teeth, made by indentation with a chisel, used for abrading or smoothing other substances, as metals, wood, etc.

Indentation; roughening; milling, as on edges of coins. Locke.

ned at an artificial elevation by any means, as by the terraces at Babylon. -- Hanging indentation. See under Indentation. -- Hanging rail (Arch.), that rail of a door or casement to which hinges are attached. -- Hanging side (Mining), the overhanging side of an inclined or hading vein. -- Hanging sleeves. (a) Stri…