a. Obs. [f. L. flex- ppl. stem of flectĕre to bend + -IVE.] Tending to bend, flexible.
1639. Davenant, Albovine, III. Dram. Wks. 1872, I. 55.
| Be flexive in your smiles, and, wanton-like, | |
| Seek pictures in their eyes; and when they move, | |
| Then, with personal conduct, guide their feet. |
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, XIV. 303.
| Can it so take, to see one backward stoop, | |
| And cast his flexive body through a hoop. |
1791. W. Bartram, Carolina, 329. These heavy spikes of flowers, charged with the morning dews, bend the slender flexive stems to the ground.
Hence Flexively adv.
1651. Fuller’s Abel Rediv., Myconius, 141. His heart was alwayes flexively inclind To what was good.
