Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IN-FLATE', or IN-FLAT'ED, a.

In botany, puffed; hollow and distended; as, a perianth, corol, nectary, or pericarp. – Martyn.

IN-FLATE', v.t. [L. inflatus, from inflo; in and flo, to blow.]

1. To swell or distend by injecting air; as, to inflate a bladder; to inflate the lungs.
2. To fill with the breath; to blow in. – Dryden.
3. To swell; to puff up; to elate; as, to inflate one with pride or vanity.

IN-FLAT'ED, pp.

Swelled or distended with air; puffed up.

IN-FLAT'ING, ppr.

Distending with air; puffing up.

IN-FLAT'ING-LY, adv.

In a manner tending to inflate.

IN'FLA'TION, n. [L. inflatio.]

1. The act of inflating.
2. The state of being distended with air injected or inhaled.
3. The state of being puffed up, as with vanity.
4. Conceit. – B. Jonson.

IN-FLECT', v.t. [L. inflecto; in and flecto, to bend.]

1. To bend; to turn from a direct line or course. Are not the rays of the sun reflected, refracted and inflected by one and the same principle? – Newton.
2. In grammar, to vary a noun or a verb its terminations; to decline, as a noun or adjective, or to conjugate, as a verb.
3. To modulate, as the voice.

IN-FLECT'ED, pp.

Bent or turned from a direct line or course; as, an inflected ray of light; varied in termination.

IN-FLECT'ING, ppr.

Bending or turning from its course; varying in termination; modulating, as the voice.

IN-FLECT'ION, n. [L. inflectio.]

1. The act of bending or turning from a direct line or course.
2. In optics, a property of light by which its rays, when they approach a body, are bent toward it or from it. Encyc. Cyc.
3. In grammar, the variation of nouns, &c. by declension, and verbs by conjugation. – Encyc.
4. Modulation of the voice in speaking. – Hooker. More commonly inflection gives significance to tones. – E. Porter. Point of inflection, in geometry, the point where a curve begins to bend the contrary way. Encyc.

IN-FLECT'IVE, a.

Having the power of bending; as, the inflective quality of the air. – Derham.

IN-FLEX'ED, a. [L. inflexus.]

Turned; bent. – Feltham.

IN-FLEX-I-BIL'I-TY, or IN-FLEX'I-BLE-NESS, n. [Fr. inflexibilité, from inflexible; L. in and flexibilis, from flecto, to bend.]

1. The quality of being inflexible, or not capable of being bent; unyielding stiffness.
2. Obstinacy of will or temper; firmness of purpose that will not yield to importunity or persuasion; unbending pertinacity.

IN-FLEX'I-BLE, a. [Fr.; L. inflexibilis.]

1. That can not be bent; as, an inflexible oak.
2. That will not yield to prayers or arguments; firm in purpose; not to be prevailed on; that can not be turned; as, a man of upright and inflexible temper. – Addison.
3. Not to be changed or altered. The nature of things is inflexible. – Watts.

IN-FLEX'I-BLY, adv.

With a firmness that resists all importunity or persuasion; with unyielding pertinaciousness; inexorable. A judge should be inflexibly just and impartial.

IN-FLEX'ION, n. [See INFLECTION.]

IN-FLICT', v.t. [L. inflictus, infligo; in and fligo, to strike, Eng. to flog.]

To lay on; to throw or send on; to apply; as, to inflict pain or disgrace; to inflict punishment on an offender. To inflict an office, condition, knowledge, tenderness, &c. on one, as used by Chesterfield, is not an authorized use of the word.

IN-FLICT'ED, pp.

Laid on; applied; as punishments or judgments.

IN-FLICT'ER, n.

He who lays on or applies.

IN-FLICT'ING, ppr.

Laying on; applying.

IN-FLIC'TION, n. [L. inflictio.]

1. The act of laying on or applying; as, the infliction of torment or of punishment.
2. The punishment applied. His severest inflictions are in themselves acts of justice and righteousness. – Rogers.

IN-FLICT'IVE, a.

Tending or able to inflict.

IN-FLO-RES'CENCE, n. [L. inflorescens, infloresco, infloreo; in and floreo, to blossom.]

1. In botany, a mode of flowering, or the manner in which flowers are supported on their foot-stalks or peduncles. Inflorescence affords an excellent characteristic mark in distinguishing the species of plants. – Milne.
2. A flowering; the unfolding of blossoms. – Journ. of Science.

IN'FLU-ENCE, n. [Fr. from L. influens, influo, to flow in; in and fluo, to flow; Sp. influencia; It. influenza.]

1. Literally, a flowing in, into or on, and referring to substances spiritual or too subtil to be visible, like inspiration. Hence the word was formerly followed by into. God hath his influence into the very essence of all things. – Hooker. It is now followed by on or with.
2. In a general sense, influence denotes power whose operation is invisible and known only by its effects, or a power whose cause and operation are unseen.
3. The power which celestial bodies are supposed to exert on terrestrial; as, the influence of the planets on the birth and fortunes of men; an exploded doctrine of astrology.
4. Moral power; power of truth operating on the mind, rational faculties or will, in persuading or dissuading; as, the influence of motives, of arguments, or of prayer. We say, arguments had no influence on the jury. The magistrate is not popular; he has no influence with the people; or he has great influence with the prince.
5. Physical power; power that affects natural bodies by unseen operation; as, the rays of the sun have an influence in whitening cloth, and in giving a green color to vegetables.
6. Power acting on sensibility; as, the influence of love or pity in sympathy.
7. Spiritual power, or the immediate power of God on the mind; as, divine influence; the influences of the Holy Spirit.

IN'FLU-ENCE, v.t.

1. To move by physical power operating by unseen laws or force; to affect. These experiments succeed after the same manner in vacuo, as in the open air, and therefore are not influenced by the weight or pressure of the atmosphere. Newton.
2. To move by moral power; to act on and affect, as the mind or will, in persuading or dissuading; to induce. Men are influenced by motives of interest or pleasure. An orator may influence the people to take arms, or to abandon an enterprise.
3. To move, as the passions; as, to influence one by pity.
4. To lead or direct. This revelation is sufficient to influence our faith and practice.