Word Direct Answers

What does "indent" mean?

Indent: To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress; as, indent a smooth surface with a hammer; to indent wax with a stamp.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Etym: [Cf. Indenture.] To bind out by indenture or contract; to indenture; to apprentice; as, to indent a young man to a shoemaker; to indent a servant.
  2. 3.(Print.) To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or less distance from the margin; as, to indent the first line of a paragraph one em; to indent the second paragraph two ems more than the first. See Indentation, and Indention.
  3. 4.(Mil.) To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores. [India] Wilhelm.
  4. 5.To be cut, notched, or dented.
  5. 6.To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.
  6. 7.To contract; to bargain or covenant. Shak. To indent and drive bargains with the Almighty. South.
  7. 8.A cut or notch in the man gin of anything, or a recess like a notch. Shak.
  8. 9.A stamp; an impression. [Obs.]
  9. 10.A certificate, or intended certificate, issued by the government of the United States at the close of the Revolution, for the principal or interest of the public debt. D. Ramsay. A. Hamilton.
  10. 11.(Mil.) A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army. [India] Wilhelm.

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