recline

Borrowed from Latin reclīnāre (“to bend back”). Compare decline, incline.

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈklaɪn/, /ɹəˈklaɪn/

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• Rhymes: -aɪn

recline (third-person singular simple present reclines, present participle reclining, simple past and past participle reclined)

1. (transitive) To cause to lean back; to bend back.
2. (transitive) To put in a resting position.

   She reclined her arms on the table and sighed.

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “On the Death of Amyntas. A Pastoral Elegy.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 249:

     The mother, lovely tho' with grief oppreſt, / Reclin'd his dying head upon her breaſt.

3. (intransitive) To lean back.

   to recline against a wall

4. (intransitive) To put oneself in a resting position.

   to recline on a couch

• decline; incline; lie down; lie back

recline (plural reclines)

1. A mechanism for lowering the back of a seat to support a less upright position; Also, the action of lowering the back using such a mechanism.
   • 2013 December 22, Jad Mouawad, Martha C. White, New York Times, retrieved 23 December 2013:

     To gain a little more space, airlines are turning to a new generation of seats that use lighter materials and less padding, moving the magazine pocket above the tray table and even reducing or eliminating the recline in seats.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /reˈkliː.ne/, [rɛˈklʲiːnɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /reˈkli.ne/, [reˈkliːne]

reclīne

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of reclīnis

recline

1. inflection of reclinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

recline

1. inflection of reclinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative