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Flexure

1. The act of flexing or bending; a turning or curving; flexion; hence, obsequious bowing or bending. Will it give place to flexure and low bending? (Shak)

2. A turn; a bend; a fold; a curve. Varying with the flexures of the valley through which it meandered. (British quart. Rev)

3. (Science: zoology) The last joint, or bend, of the wing of a bird.

4. (Science: astronomy) The small distortion of an astronomical instrument caused by the weight of its parts; the amount to be added or substracted from the observed readings of the instrument to correct them for this distortion.

(Science: mathematics) The flexure of a curve, the bending of a curve towards or from a straight line.

Origin: L. Flexura.