recline

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reclinen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French recliner^[5][6][2] and directly borrowed from Latin reclīnō (“to bend back, lean back; to lay down”),^[5][6][4][2] formed from re- (“back, against”) and clīnō (“to bend, lean”).^[7][6][4][8] The French verb meant "to return to" in Old French in the 12th century, then to rest the head and to lean;^[5] in Anglo-Norman it is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, meaning to lay down one's head, to lean back or to lean on.^[9] The Latin verb has relatives in reclinar, reclinar and reclinare.^[5] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *klei- (“to lean”),^[4][7] the root of lean;^[6][10] decline and incline are formed in the same way.^[11][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause to lie down, or to lay something down, especially on the back: before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, a surgical work.^[5] Etymonline and the Oxford Dictionary of English also give "to cause to lean back" as the first sense, in the early 15th century.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense, to lie back at rest, is recorded from 1578,^[5] or the 1590s in Etymonline,^[4] and Hoad dates "rest in a recumbent position" to the 17th century.^[12] In the 16th century the verb was also a term of dialling, used of the plane of a sundial sloping back from the vertical.^[5][12] Some early senses did not last: to return to a former state (until 1706), to turn one's ear (until 1754), and, in military use, to retreat (1789).^[5] Milton used recline as an adjective, "They sat recline", which Johnson (1755) derived from Latin reclīnis.^[13][5] Johnson defined the verb as "to lean back; to lean sidewise".^[13] The 20th century added the sense of a seat that can be tilted back (1938), and the noun for its angle (1945).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – to lay down or cause to lean back.^[5][4]
• c. 1475 – to return to a previous state (obsolete by 1706).^[5]
• 1578 – intransitive, to lie back, to rest in a leaning position.^[5]
• 1593 – of a sundial, to slope back from the vertical.^[5]
• 1667 – adjective, recumbent, in Milton (obsolete by 1834).^[5][14]
• 1753 – noun, a reclining posture.^[5]
• 1938 – of a seat, to be adjustable to lean back.^[5]
• 1945 – noun, the angle to which a seat can recline.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lean or lie back in a resting position: He reclined on the sofa after dinner.^[10][2][5]
2. To cause to lean back or lie down; to rest something: She reclined her head against the cushion.^[10][2][5]
3. Of a seat, to be adjustable to a backward-sloping position.^[5][2]
4. Of the plane of a sundial, to slope backwards from the vertical.^[5][12]

Noun

1. The angle to which a seat can recline, or its capacity to do so.^[5]

Adjective

1. (obsolete, 1667–1834) Leaning back; recumbent.^[5][14][13]

Word family

• reclination
• reclinable
• recliner

Related words

• incline
• decline
• lean
• clinic
• climax

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, says that recline always means at least as much as lean, and usually describes a more fully recumbent position, approaching lie.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press