Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.