flexibleadj.n.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxij Like a rede with euery wind is agitable & flexible.

1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. clxxxi, in Bulwarke of Defence Feele also the pacient..whither the partes be pained, or flexable or haue loste their strength, and are stiffe.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. iii. 49 When the splitting winde, Makes flexible the knees of knotted Okes. View more context for this quotation

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §796 And you shall finde..the Stalke harder and less Flexible, than it was.

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 42 It hath a Cartilaginous flexible Tube or Channel.

1731 J. Arbuthnot Ess. Nature Aliments ii. 18 An Animal in order to be moveable must be flexible.

1813 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. (ed. 4) II. 373 These parts, with the tail, are covered by a strong flexible skin.

1823 W. Phillips Elem. Introd. Mineral. (ed. 3) Introd. 9 A flexible granular quartz is found in Brazil.

1869 C. Boutell tr. J. P. Lacombe Arms & Armour ii. 17 The long, flexible, and pointless weapons that are described by the Roman historians.

1859 W. J. M. Rankine Man. Steam Engine iv. 126 (caption) Flexible tube and diaphragm valves.

a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. I. 882/1 Thirion's flexible coupling is used for conveying power from one shaft to another when they are not in line.

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. 144 Flexible crank shaft, a crank shaft in which the strains due to the rigidity of an unyielding mass compelled to revolve under conditions of strain due to the want of alignment of its bearings, are reduced and minimised by the introduction of flexible joints in its length.

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. Flexible Hose, piping made either of india-rubber or leather.

1909 Installation News II. 186/1 Flexible cord surface wiring.

1909 Daily Chron. 24 Aug. 7/5 Another advantage of the ‘flexible’ engine..is the power it gives the driver to avoid accidents and collisions.

1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms Flexible, a term applied to a dirigible balloon in which a flexible gas container is held in shape only by the pressure of gas within and to which the load is hung. This characterizes the whole non-rigid system of airships.

1965 Economist 27 Mar. 1412/3 Flexible or ‘black top’ road design is also being studied.

1967 Gloss. Sanitation Terms (B.S.I.) 28 Flexible joint, a joint which permits some movement of the jointed parts out of their original alignment or which permits the jointing of parts which are not truly aligned.

1970 A. Byers Home Lighting i. 22 Floor standards, table lamps,..and permanent lighting may all be supplied from plugs and socket outlets using a flexible cord.

a1420 T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum 3358 To mercy were her hertes ay flexible.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. cxcix^v If he sawe hym flexible to his purpose.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. (1632) vi. v. 38 They saw both heauen and earth flexible to their deliuerance.

1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety xvi. 368 The Vulgar, who are commonly flexible to any new Impression.

1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) Pref. There are many things [in the book] to be taken in a soft and flexible sense. View more context for this quotation

1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V III. x. 238 His flexible genius was capable of accommodating itself to every situation.

1837 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. iii. 309 In his Latin style..he is less flexible and elegant.

1841–8 F. Myers Catholic Thoughts II. iii. §10. 38 To proclaim a more flexible rule of judgement.

1882 A. W. Ward Dickens iii. 55 Never was his inventive force more flexible and more at his command.

1886 J. R. Lowell Democracy 226 A language at once so precise and so flexible as the Greek.

1712 J. Hughes Spectator No. 541. ⁋7 Sorrow and complaint demand a voice quite different, flexible, slow, interrupted.

1825 J. F. Danneley Encycl. Music Flexible, a voice is said to be flexible when it can swell and diminish its tones, with such grace and power, as to give every shade of expression to the melody it executes.

1833 E. Bulwer-Lytton Godolphin I. xv. 123 His voice was so deep and flexible.

1826 S. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 118 But some have been selected for flexible politics.

1963 Time (Internat. ed.) 26 July 15/3 Pentagon planning now puts relatively more emphasis than it did a few years ago on ‘graduated’ or ‘flexible’ responses.

1966 U. Schwarz & L. Hadik Strategic Terminol. 71 Flexible response, strategy based on the capability of reacting appropriately across the entire spectrum of possible challenge from atomic war to infiltration and subversion.

1967 Punch 26 Apr. 597/2 Both parties will have embarked on a policy of manufacturing anti-ballistic missiles on a scale which will cause defence costs to escalate out of all proportion, and possibly even to destroy the philosophy of flexible response, owing to the necessity to saturate enemy defences at the first stroke.

1968 Economist 10 Feb. 14/2 Last year Nato at long last adopted a strategy of flexible response in place of massive retaliation.