different between flex vs buckle

English

Etymology

Latin flexus, past participle of flecto (“to bend”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fl?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks
• Homophone: flecks

Noun

flex (countable and uncountable, plural flexes)

1. (uncountable) Flexibility, pliancy.
2. (countable) The or an act of flexing.
   • 2002, Gary Noy, Red Dirt: A Journey of Discovery in the Landscape of Imagination, California's Gold Country, iUniverse (?ISBN), page 144:

     The hills become more rounded. The slopes are either the stooped shoulders of an aging colossus or the muscular flexes of a geologic youngster, but they are pleasant, comforting. This landscape is what most would think of […]

3. (uncountable, chiefly Britain) Any flexible insulated electrical wiring.
4. (uncountable) Flexible ductwork, typically flexible plastic over a metal wire coil to shape a tube.
   • 2010, Aaron Lubeck, Green Restorations: Sustainable Building and Historic Homes (page 221)

     Flex is quick and cheaper to install than metallic systems, but it yields higher pressure loss than other types of ducts and requires runs of less than 15 feet, minimal turns and elimination of kinks.

5. (countable, geometry) A point of inflection.
6. (countable, slang) The act of flaunting something; something one considers impressive.
   • 2017, "Mogul Bites", Black American Moguls, Fall 2017, page 6:

     Getting together with other power players at Masa is the ultimate flex of conspicuous consumption. […] A party of five or more requires a deposit of $200 per person at least one week prior to the reservation.

   • 2019, Seth Sommerfeld, "Worldwide Web", Inlander, 4 July 2019 - 10 July 2019, page 37:

     It's an achievement to stand out from other Marvel movies in terms of special effects, but this whole movie feels like a flex for those computer wizards.

   • 2020, Daniel Varghese, "Aesop's Hand Sanitizer Is a Flex for an Anxious Time", GQ, 6 March 2020
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:flex.

Translations

Verb

flex (third-person singular simple present flexes, present participle flexing, simple past and past participle flexed)

1. (transitive) To bend something.
2. (transitive) To repeatedly bend one of one's joints.
3. (transitive) To move part of the body using one's muscles.
4. (intransitive) To tighten the muscles for display of size or strength.
5. (intransitive, slang, by extension) To flaunt one's superiority.

Translations

Related terms

• flexibility
• flexible
• flexing
• flexion

Anagrams

• XFEL

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?k(?)l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?k(?)l/
• Homophone: buccal (one pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -?k?l

Etymology 1

From a frequentative form of buck (“to bend, buckle”), of Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German origin, related to Dutch bukken (“to stoop, bend, yield, submit”), German bücken (“to stoop, bend”), Swedish bocka (“to buck, bow”), equivalent to buck +? -le. Compare Middle Dutch buchelen (“to strive, tug under a load”), dialectal German aufbückeln (“to raise or arch the back”).

Verb

buckle (third-person singular simple present buckles, present participle buckling, simple past and past participle buckled)

1. (intransitive) To distort or collapse under physical pressure; especially, of a slender structure in compression.
   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[1]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.

2. (transitive) To make bend; to cause to become distorted.
3. (intransitive, figuratively) To give in; to react suddenly or adversely to stress or pressure (of a person).

   It is amazing that he has never buckled after so many years of doing such urgent work.

4. (intransitive) To yield; to give way; to cease opposing.
   • 1664, Samuel Pepys, diary entry December 15

     The Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle.

5. (obsolete, intransitive) To enter upon some labour or contest; to join in close fight; to contend.
   • 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Second Sermon preached before King Edward

     The bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as he was with him.
6. To buckle down; to apply oneself.
   • 1700, Isaac Barrow, Of Industry in our particular Calling, as Scholars

     To make our sturdy humour buckle thereto.

   • December 6, 1838, James David Forbes, letter to J. T. Harrison, Esq.

     Before buckling to my winter's work.

   • Cartwright buckled himself to the employment.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English bokel (“spiked metal ring for holding a belt, etc”), from Old French boucle, bocle (“"boss (of a shield)" then "shield," later "buckle, metal ring”), from Latin buccula (“cheek strap of a helmet”), diminutive of bucca (“cheek”).

Noun

buckle (plural buckles)

1. (countable) A clasp used for fastening two things together, such as the ends of a belt, or for retaining the end of a strap.
2. (Canada, heraldry) The brisure of an eighth daughter.
3. (roofing) An upward, elongated displacement of a roof membrane frequently occurring over insulation or deck joints. A buckle may be an indication of movement with the roof assembly.
4. A distortion, bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

5. A curl of hair, especially a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled.

   • ear-locks in tight buckles on each side of a long lanthorn face

   • lets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year

6. A contorted expression, as of the face.
   • 1763, Charles Churchill, The Ghost

     'Gainst nature arm'd by gravity, / His features too in buckle see.

Translations

Verb

buckle (third-person singular simple present buckles, present participle buckling, simple past and past participle buckled)

1. (transitive) To fasten using a buckle.
2. (Scotland) To unite in marriage.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

Translations

See also

• buckle down
• buckle to
• buckle up
• turnbuckle
• sun kink (buckle in railway track)

Anagrams

• Lubeck, Lübeck