indent

from The Century Dictionary.

• To make a dent or depression in, as by a blow or by pressure; dent or dint.
• To dent or press in; form as a dent or depression.
• noun A requisition for military stores.
• To make notches in resembling teeth; cut into points or jags like a row of teeth; notch; jag; serrate.
• 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.
• Hence To covenant or bargain for; transfer by covenant; indenture.
• 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.
• To move in a zigzag course; wind in and out; double in moving.
• To contract; bargain; make a compact.
• noun A cut or notch in the margin, or a recess like a notch; an indentation.
• noun 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.
• noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
• noun obsolete A stamp; an impression.
• noun 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.
• noun (Mil.), India A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.
• intransitive verb To be cut, notched, or dented.
• intransitive verb To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.
• intransitive verb To contract; to bargain or covenant.
• transitive verb To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth.
• transitive verb To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress
• transitive verb To bind out by indenture or contract; to indenture; to apprentice
• transitive verb (Print.) To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or less distance from the margin
• transitive verb (Mil.), India To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
• noun A stamp; an impression.
• noun 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.
• noun A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.
• verb transitive To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth; as, to indent the edge of paper.
• verb intransitive To be cut, notched, or dented.
• verb To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress; as, indent a smooth surface with a hammer; to indent wax with a stamp.
• verb 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.
• verb intransitive, obsolete To enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something).
• verb transitive, obsolete To engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.
• verb 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.
• verb obsolete, intransitive To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb make a depression into
• noun an order for goods to be exported or imported
• verb notch the edge of or make jagged
• verb set in from the margin
• verb cut or tear along an irregular line so that the parts can later be matched for authentication
• noun the space left between the margin and the start of an indented line
• verb bind by or as if by indentures, as of an apprentice or servant