indent

Noun

indent (plural indents)

1. A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
2. A stamp; an impression.
3. 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.
4. A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.

Verb

IPA/ɪnˈdɛnt/

indent (third-person singular simple present indents, present participle indenting, simple past and past participle indented)

1. (transitive) To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth
   • to indent the edge of paper
2. (intransitive) To be cut, notched, or dented.
3. To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress
   • indent a smooth surface with a hammer
   • to indent wax with a stamp
4. (historical) To cut the two halves of a document in duplicate, using a jagged or wavy line so that each party could demonstrate that their copy was part of the original whole.
5. (intransitive, obsolete, reflexive) To enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something); to contract.
   • The Polanders indented with Henry, Duke of Anjou, their new-chosen king, to bring with him an hundred families of artificers into Poland., New York, 2001, p.91
   • And is this now the Person who is to oblige his Maker? to indent and drive bargains with the Almighty?1698, Robert South, Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, London: Thomas Bennet, page 28
6. (obsolete, transitive) To engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.
   • to indent a young man to a shoemaker; to indent a servant
7. To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or lesser distance from the margin. See indentation, and indention. Normal indent pushes in a line or paragraph. "Hanging indent" pulls the line out into the margin.
   • to indent the first line of a paragraph one em
   • to indent the second paragraph two ems more than the first
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.
   • Seeing Orlando, it vnlink'd it selfe,
     And with indented glides, did slip awayc. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
9. (India, Singapore, dated elsewhere) To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.
   • What is the rule observed in India in indenting upon England for military stores ?1832 May 23, John Byng examining Jasper Nicolls in the House of Commons