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Webster 1913 Edition

Flexible

Flex′i-ble

,
Adj.
[L.
flexibilis
: cf. F.
flexible
.]
1.
Capable of being flexed or bent; admitting of being turned, bowed, or twisted, without breaking; pliable; yielding to pressure; not stiff or brittle.
When the splitting wind
Makes
flexible
the knees of knotted oaks.
Shakespeare
2.
Willing or ready to yield to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate; tractable; manageable; ductile; easy and compliant; wavering.
Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways
flexible
to the will of the people.
Bacon.
Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and
flexible
.
Shakespeare
3.
Capable or being adapted or molded; plastic,;
as, a
flexible
language
.
–
Flex′i-ble-ness
,
Noun.
–
Flex′i-bly
,
adv.

Webster 1828 Edition

Flexible

FLEX'IBLE

,
Adj.
[L. flexibilis, from flecto, flexi, to bend, plico.]
1.
That may be bent; capable of being turned or forced from a straight line or form without breaking; pliant; yielding to pressure; not stiff; as a flexible rod; a flexible plant.
2.
Capable of yielding to intreaties, arguments or other moral force; that may be persuaded to compliance; not invincibly rigid; or obstinate; not inexorable.
Phocion was a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people.
It often denotes, easy or too easy to yield or comply; wavering; inconstant; not firm.
3.
Ductile; manageable; tractable; as the tender and flexible minds of youth. Flexible years or time of life, the time when the mind is tractable.
4.
That may be turned or accommodated.
This was a principle more flexible to their purpose.

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