Transitive sense "cause to lean or rest" is from 14c. Meaning "to incline the body against something for support" is mid-13c. Figurative sense of "to trust for support" is from early 13c. Sense of "to lean toward mentally, to favor" is from late 14c. Related: Leaned; leaning. Colloquial lean on "put pressure on" (someone) is first recorded 1960.
Latin, hic iacet, "here lies," commonly the first words of Latin epitaphs; from demonstrative pronominal adjective of place hic "this, here" + iacet "it lies," third person singular present indicative of iacēre "to lie, rest," related to iacere "to throw" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel").
type of poem in fixed form, 1797, from Italian, "poem of six-lined stanzas," from sesto "sixth," from Latin sextus (see six). Invented by 12c. Provençal troubadour Arnaut Daniel. The line-endings of the first stanza are repeated in different order in the rest, and in an envoi.
late Old English flotian "to rest on the surface of water" (intransitive; class II strong verb; past tense fleat, past participle floten), from Proto-Germanic *flotan "to float" (source also of Old Norse flota, Middle Dutch vloten, Old High German flozzan, German flössen), from PIE *plud-, extended form of root *pleu- "to flow."
Meaning "drift about, hover passively" is from c. 1300. Transitive sense of "to lift up, cause to float" (of water, etc.) is from c. 1600; that of "set (something) afloat" is from 1778 (originally of financial operations). Of motion through air, from 1630s. Meaning "hover dimly before the eyes" is from 1775. Related: Floated; floating. A floating rib (by 1802) is so called because the anterior ends are not connected to the rest.
early 15c., reclinen, transitive, "cause to lean backward or downwards (on something); lay (something) down," from Old French recliner "rest, lay; bend, lean over" (13c.) and directly from Latin reclinare "to bend back, to lean back; cause to lean," from re- "back, against" (see re-) + clinare "to bend" (from PIE *klein-, suffixed form of root *klei- "to lean"). The intransitive sense of "rest in a recumbent posture" is from 1590s. Related: Reclined; reclining.
Recline is always as strong as lean, and generally stronger, indicating a more completely recumbent position, and approaching lie. [Century Dictionary]
As a companion noun, reclination "action, posture, etc. of reclining" (1570s, from Late Latin reclinationem) seem not to have caught on.
c. 1200, "physical comfort, undisturbed state of the body; tranquility, peace of mind," from Old French aise "comfort, pleasure, well-being; opportunity," which is of uncertain origin. According to Watkins is ultimately from Latin adiacens "lying at," present participle of adiacere "lie at, border upon, lie near," from ad "to" (see ad-) + iacere "to lie, rest," literally "to throw" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel"). Recent dictionaries in English and French seem to support this derivation, though older sources found objections to it. Compare adagio.
At ease "at rest, at peace, in comfort" is from late 14c.; as a military order (1802) the word denotes "freedom from stiffness or formality."
