indent

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant

   an indentured servant

2. 2
   verb

   cut or tear along an irregular line so that the parts can later be matched for authentication

   indent the documents

3. 3
   verb

   To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth

   to indent the edge of paper

4. 4
   verb

   To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress

   indent a smooth surface with a hammer

5. 5
   verb

   To enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something); to contract.

   The Polanders indented with Henry, Duke of Anjou, their new-chosen king, to bring with him an hundred families of artificers into Poland.

6. 6
   verb

   To engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.

   to indent a young man to a shoemaker; to indent a servant

7. 7
   verb

   To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or lesser distance from the margin. See indentation, and indention. Normal indent pushes in a line or paragraph. "Hanging indent" pulls the line out into the margin.

   to indent the first line of a paragraph one em

8. 8
   verb

   To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.

   Seeing Orlando, it vnlink'd it selfe, And with indented glides, did slip away

Etymology

Partly from Middle English indenten (“to dent in”), equivalent to in- + dent (see dent); partly from Middle English indenten, endenten, from Old French endenter (“to provide with teeth”), from en- (“in-, en-”) + dent (“tooth”), from Latin dēns.