Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause (someone) to have a certain tendency: dispose.
  • intransitive verb To dispose (someone) to have a certain preference or opinion or to take a course of action.
  • intransitive verb To cause to lean, slant, or slope: synonym: slant.
  • intransitive verb To bend or lower in a nod or bow.
  • intransitive verb To be disposed to a certain preference, opinion, or course of action.
  • intransitive verb To deviate from the horizontal or vertical; slant.
  • intransitive verb To lower or bend the head or body, as in a nod or bow.
  • noun An inclined surface; a slope or gradient.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bend down; lean; turn obliquely from or toward a given direction or position; deviate from a line or course; tend: as, the column inclines from the perpendicular.
  • To bow; bend the head or the body, especially as a mark of courtesy or respect.
  • To have a mental bent or tendency; be disposed; tend, as toward an opinion, a course of action, etc.
  • To tend, in a physical sense; approximate.
  • In marching, to gain ground to the flank, as well as to the front.
  • To bend down; cause to lean; give a leaning to; cause to deviate from or toward a given line, position, or direction; direct.
  • To bend (the body), as in an act of reverence or civility; cause to stoop or bow.
  • To give a tendency or propension to; turn; dispose.
  • noun An inclination; a bow.
  • noun An inclined plane; an ascent or a descent, as in a road or a railway;a slope.
  • noun A shaft or mine-opening having considerable inclination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To deviate from a line, direction, or course, toward an object; to lean; to tend
  • intransitive verb Fig.: To lean or tend, in an intellectual or moral sense; to favor an opinion, a course of conduct, or a person; to have a propensity or inclination; to be disposed.
  • intransitive verb To bow; to incline the head.
  • transitive verb To cause to deviate from a line, position, or direction; to give a leaning, bend, or slope to
  • transitive verb To impart a tendency or propensity to, as to the will or affections; to turn; to dispose; to influence.
  • transitive verb To bend; to cause to stoop or bow.
  • noun An inclined plane; an ascent or descent; a grade or gradient; a slope.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To bend or move (something) out of a given plane or direction, often the horizontal or vertical.
  • verb intransitive To slope.
  • verb To tend to do or believe something, or move or be moved in a certain direction, away from a point of view, attitude, etc.
  • noun A slope.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make receptive or willing towards an action or attitude or belief
  • verb be at an angle
  • verb bend or turn (one's ear) towards a speaker in order to listen well
  • noun an elevated geological formation
  • verb have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined
  • verb lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow
  • verb feel favorably disposed or willing
  • noun an inclined surface connecting two levels

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English enclinen, from Old French encliner, from Latin inclīnāre : in-, into, toward; see in– + -clīnāre, to lean; see klei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French encliner (modern incliner), from Latin inclīnō ("incline, tilt"), from in- + clīnō (c.f. -cline), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean).

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