flex1bil1ty

[Fr. flexibilité, from Lat. flex i bilis easily bent, flexible (q. v.).] 1. The quality or state of being flexible or admitting to be bent; pliancy; flexiblene . "Corpuscles of the same set agree in everything, but those that are of diverse kinds differ in specific gravity, ir hardne , and in flexibility , as in bigne and figure." Woodward: On Fo ils. 2. Readine or willingne to be persuaded, or to yield to argument, persuasion, or circumstances; facility or ductility of mind or disposition. "Go dolphin had been bred a page at White hall, and had early acquired all the flexibility and the self po e ion of a veteran courtier."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. ii. IMG:content-1750.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Willing or ready to yield to arguments, persuasion, or circumstances; pliant, tractable, facile, ductile; not obstinate or inexorable. "Seeing him of a nature flexible and weak." Daniel: Civil Wars, bk. i. 3. Manageable, tractable. "Under whose care soever a child is put to be taught, during the tender and flexible years of his life, it should be one who thinks Latin and language the least part of education." -Locke: On Education. 4. That may be adapted or accommodated to any purpose. "This was a principle more flexible to their purpose." Rogers . 5. Capable of being molded into different forms or styles; plastic; as, a flexible language. Crabb thus discriminates between flexible , pli able, pliant, and supple : " Flexible is used in a natural or moral sense; pliable in the familiar and natural sense only; pliant in the higher and moral application only: what can be bent in any degree as a stick is flexible ; what can be bent as wax, or folded like cloth, is pliable . Supple , whether in a proper or a figurative sense, is an exce of pli ability ; what can be bent backward and forward, like ozier twig, is supple . In the moral application, flexible is indefinite both in degree and application; it may be greater or le in point of degree: whereas pliant supposes a great degree of pliability ; and supplene , a great degree of pliancy or plia bility : it applies likewise to the outward actions, to the temper, the resolution, or the principles; but pliancy is applied to the principles, or the conduct dependent upon those principles; supplene to the outward actions and behavior only. A good natured man is flexible ; a weak and thoughtle man is pliant ; a parasite is supple. Flexibility is opposed to firmne ; pliancy to steadine ; supple ne to rigidity." (Crabb: Eng. Synon.) IMG:content-1751.png:[blocks in formation] flexible-collodion, s. Pharm .: A mixture of 6 fluid ounces of collodion, 120 grains of Canada balsam, and a fluid drachm of castor-oil. It is a better protective covering for the skin than collodion, as it does not crack. [COLLODION.]