flexure
(ˈflɛksjʊə(r))
[ad. L. flexūra, f. flectĕre to bend: see -ure.]
1. The action of flexing or bending; curvature; an instance of this.
| 1592 Nobody & Someb. 1062 in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 318 There's those are made For flexure, let them stoope. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. ‘Grex’ 26 The easie flexure of his supple hammes. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxiii. 409 Eumelus made most pace With his fleet mares, and he began the flexure as we thought. 1764 Reid Inquiry v. §7 A new sensation, which accompanies the flexure of joints, and the swelling of muscles. 1775 Johnson West. Isl. Wks. X. 351 The way makes a flexure. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. ii. 25 By flexure of the beam or change in the points of support. 1870 Ruskin Lect. Art vi. 165 They give life by flexure of surface, not by quantity of detail. |
| fig. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Ep. Ded. 1 That proposition which complies with..all the flexures of its temporall ends. |
2. Flexed or bent condition; ‘the form or direction in which anything is bent’ (J.), bent figure or posture; bending, or winding form.
| 1628 Earle Microcosm. xxx (1811) 86 No antick screws men's bodies into such strange flexures. 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 15 Which..will oblige the trees to what flexure and forme you please. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 5 The contrary flexure of the Joints of our Arms and Legs to that of Quadrupeds. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. v. 200 Muscles, by which he [man] can give..to his tongue, any kind of flexure he pleases. 1826 Good Bk. Nat. (1834) I. 1 The details..of planting the woods, of giving flexure to the rivers, [etc.]. 1875 Blackmore Alice Lorraine II. xxiii. 323 With classic flexure of luxuriant hair. |
† 3. A tendency to bend or be bent; a strain.
Obs.| 1652 Abp. Sancroft Mod. Pol. in D'Oyly Life II. 254 There is no such equilibrious virtue, but has some flexure to one of the extremes. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 42 The parts of the Glass are under a kind of tension or flexure. |
† 4. a. Power of bending. Const.
of.
b. Capability of being bent; flexibility.
Obs.| 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year (1850) 154 Stiff as icicles, and without flexure as the legs of elephants. 1779 Phil. Trans. LXIX. 10 He..had the perfect flexure and use of his fore arm. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. i. (1819) 2 A flexible chain artificially wrought for the sake of flexure. |
5. concr. A thing of bent shape; the bent part of anything (
e.g. a limb, river, road); a bend, curve, turn, winding.
| 1607 Topsell Serpents (1658) 674 An angle or flexure of sixteen ribs. 1652 F. Kirkman Clerio & Lozia 91 Her Coif..with flexures in it for her hair to pass out most compleatly curled. c 1720 Gibson Farrier's Guide i. v. (1738) 56 [They] lose their fleshy substance..as they approach the Flexure of the lower Jaw-bone. 1773 Hist. Brit. Dom. N. Amer. ii. v. §2. 295 From the hook or flexure..vessels get out to sea with difficulty. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 23 The lowest part of the sigmoid flexure of the colon. 1814 Cary Dante Purg. xxv. 105 Now the last flexure of our way we reach'd. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 152 The arched entrance to the north porch, which is richly ornamented by trefoil flexures. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. ix. 57 Her babe—that flexure of soft limbs. 1874 Coues Birds N.W. 688 The wing from the flexure, differs..almost or quite an inch. |
6. Math. The bending or curving of a line or surface. In the theory of elasticity, the bending of a surface or solid.
flexure of a curve: its bending towards or from a straight line.
point of contrary flexure: see
contrary A. 5 d.
| 1672 Wallis in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 538 The figure of tangents applied to the arch stretched out into a straight line, hath no contrary flexure. 1831 Brewster Optics vi. 64 All the variety of caustics, with their cusps and points of contrary flexure. 1856 Denison Lect. Ch. Building iii. 93 Hogarth's line of beauty..is..in mathematical language, a curve of contrary flexure. 1857 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. I. 79 This flexure is different at different angles. 1879 Thomson & Tait Nat. Philos. §141 Flexure stretches one side and condenses the other temporarily. |
7. Geol. A bending of strata under pressure, chiefly from below.
| 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 316 The great flexure of the secondary and tertiary beds. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. ix. (1879) 196 The quartz rock..underwent..remarkable flexures without being shattered. 1882 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. vii. 915 Various types of flexure may be noticed. |
Hence
ˈflexured ppl. a. [
-ed2], having a flexure or flexures.
| 1881 Blackmore Christowell II. xiv. 276 The carven curves and flexured tracery of soft little ears. |