indent

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To set (the first line of a paragraph, for example) in from the margin.
2. v. To cut or tear (a document with two or more copies) along an irregular line so that the parts can later be matched for establishing authenticity.
3. v. To draw up (a document) in duplicate or triplicate.
4. v. To notch or serrate the edge of; make jagged.
5. v. To make notches, grooves, or holes in (wood, for example) for the purpose of mortising.
6. v. To fit or join together by or as if by mortising.
7. v. Chiefly British To order (goods) by purchase order or official requisition.
8. v. To make or form an indentation.
9. v. Chiefly British To draw up or order an indent.
10. n. The act of indenting or the condition of being indented.
11. n. A blank space before the beginning of an indented line: a two-pica indent.
12. n. An indenture.
13. n. A U.S. certificate issued at the close of the American Revolution for interest due on the public debt.
14. n. Chiefly British An official requisition or purchase order for goods.
15. v. To impress (a design, for example); stamp.
16. n. An indentation.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To make a dent or depression in, as by a blow or by pressure; dent or dint.
2. To dent or press in; form as a dent or depression.
3. To make notches in resembling teeth; cut into points or jags like a row of teeth; notch; jag; serrate.
4. Specifically Formerly, to notch the edges of (two copies of a writing, as a deed, covenant, articles of agreement, etc., in which two parties had an interest), as a conventional means of identification and security. It was the custom to write duplicates of the deed or covenant on one sheet, and then cut them apart by a waving or jagged line. One part was given to each party in interest, and its genuineness could be subsequently attested by the coincidence of its indented margin with the indented margin of the other part.
5. Hence To covenant or bargain for; transfer by covenant; indenture.
6. In type-setting and writing, to throw or sink inward by a blank space in the margin, as the first line of a paragraph; hence, to begin, or exceptionally to begin and end, with a fixed amount of blank space, whether evenly or unevenly, as lines of poetry or of type specially arranged. See indention.
7. To move in a zigzag course; wind in and out; double in moving.
8. To contract; bargain; make a compact.
9. n. A cut or notch in the margin, or a recess like a notch; an indentation.
10. n. A writing, as a deed, covenant, contract, order for goods, articles of agreement, etc., having the edges indented (see indent, transitive verb, 2, 3); hence, any covenant.
11. n. An indented certificate issued by the United States government at the close of the Revolution, for the principal or interest due on the public debt.
12. n. A requisition for military stores.

Wiktionary

1. n. A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
2. n. A stamp; an impression.
3. n. 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. n. A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.
5. v. transitive To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth; as, to indent the edge of paper.
6. v. intransitive To be cut, notched, or dented.
7. v. To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress; as, indent a smooth surface with a hammer; to indent wax with a stamp.
8. v. 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.
9. v. intransitive, obsolete To enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something).
10. v. transitive, obsolete To engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.
11. v. typography 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. Normal indent pushes in a line or paragraph. "hanging indent" pulls the line out into the margin.
12. v. obsolete, intransitive To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth.
2. v. To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress
3. v. To bind out by indenture or contract; to indenture; to apprentice
4. v. (Print.) To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or less distance from the margin
5. v. (Mil.), India To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.
6. v. To be cut, notched, or dented.
7. v. To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.
8. v. To contract; to bargain or covenant.
9. n. A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
10. n. obsolete A stamp; an impression.
11. n. 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.
12. n. (Mil.), India A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make a depression into
2. n. an order for goods to be exported or imported
3. v. notch the edge of or make jagged
4. v. set in from the margin
5. v. cut or tear along an irregular line so that the parts can later be matched for authentication
6. n. the space left between the margin and the start of an indented line
7. v. bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant