37 entries found

incline (n.)

c. 1600, "mental tendency," from incline (v.). The literal meaning "slant, slope" is attested from 1846 in railroading.

incline (v.)

in early use also encline, c. 1300, "to bend or bow toward," from Old French encliner "to lean, bend, bow down," from Latin inclinare "to cause to lean; bend, incline, turn, divert," from in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + clinare "to bend," from PIE *klein-, suffixed form of root *klei- "to lean." Metaphoric sense of "have a mental disposition toward" is early 15c. in English (but existed in classical Latin). Related: Inclined; inclining.

inclined (adj.)

c. 1300, "having a mental tendency;" 1540s, "having a physical slope," past-participle adjective from incline (v.).

disincline (v.)

"make averse or unwilling," 1640s, from dis- + incline (v.). Related: Disinclined; disinclining. …

inclinable (adj.)

"amenable, disposed, having a mental bent in a certain direction," mid-15c., from Old French enclinable and directly from Latin inclinabilis, from inclinare (see incline (v.)).

list (v.1)

"to tilt, lean, incline to one side," especially of a ship, 1880, earlier spelled lust (1620s), of unknown origin. Perhaps an unexplained spelling variant of Middle ….desires (compare incline (v.)). Related: Listed; listing.

anticline (n.)

from a central axis," from anti- "against" + Latinized form of Greek klinein "to lean, slope" from PIE root *klei- "to lean." Form assimilated to incline.

inclination (n.)

"to bend, turn; cause to lean" (see incline (v.)). Meaning "action of bending toward" (something) is from early 15c. That of "amount of a slope" is from 1799.

cline (n.)

1938, in biology, "a graded series of differences within a species," a back-formation from incline or from a Latinized form of Greek …

*klei- 

heteroclite; incline; ladder; lean (v.); lid ….down, turn aside;" Greek klinein "to cause to slope, slant, incline;" Old Irish cloin "crooked, wrong;" Middle Irish cle, Welsh cledd "left," literally "slanting"). …
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