Part 200

Flex`i*bil"i*ty (?), 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.

All the flexibility of a veteran courtier.

Macaulay.

Flex"i*ble (?), 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.

When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks.

Shak.

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

Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people.

Bacon.

Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible.

Shak.

3. Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,; as, a flexible language.

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.

Flex`i*cos"tate (?), a. [L. flexus bent + E. costate.] (Anat.) Having bent or curved ribs.

Flex"ile (?), a. [L. flexilis.] Flexible; pliant; pliable; easily bent; plastic; tractable. Wordsworth.

Flex"ion (?), n. [L. flexio: cf. F. flexion.] 1. The act of flexing or bending; a turning.

2. A bending; a part bent; a fold. Bacon.

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

Express the syntactical relations by flexion.

Sir W. Hamilton.

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.

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

Flex"u*ose` (?; 135), a. Flexuous.

Flex"u*ous (?), a. [L. flexuosus, fr. flexus a bending, turning.] 1. Having turns, windings, or flexures.

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