A tooth taken out of a straight edge. Old French endenter meant to cut notches into something, from dent, a tooth. Hold that picture — a clean line with a bite missing from it — and the modern uses line up: a coast with little bays, a carpet with a dip where the box stood, and a page whose straight left margin has a small bite at the start of every paragraph.
From the word’s history
Partly Middle English indenten, to dent in (in- plus dent); partly Old French endenter, to cut notches into, from dent, a tooth, from Latin dens. Both routes end in the same picture, which is why cutting and pressing share one word.
一半來自中古英語 indenten「往裡壓出凹痕」（in- 加 dent），一半來自古法文 endenter「刻出齒狀缺口」，dent 來自拉丁文 dēns（牙齒）。兩條路線最後指向同一個畫面，所以「切出缺口」和「壓出凹痕」在英文裡共用一個字。
Wiktionary entries for indent (noun and verb), etymology sections, as supplied in this packet (source_refs kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:648102135 and :648110695)
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原始詞典資料13 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
indentnoun/ˈɪndɛnt/
- 1
A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
- 2
A stamp; an impression.
- 3
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
A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.
indentverb/ɪnˈdɛnt/
- 1
To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth
- to indent the edge of paper
- 2
To be cut, notched, or dented.
- 3
To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress
- indent a smooth surface with a hammer
- to indent wax with a stamp
- 4
historicalTo 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.
- 5
obsoleteTo enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something); to contract.
- The Polanders indented with Henry, Duke of Anjou, their new-chosen king, to bring with him an hundred families of artificers into Poland.
- And is this now the Person who is to oblige his Maker? to indent and drive bargains with the Almighty?
- 6
obsoleteTo engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.
- to indent a young man to a shoemaker; to indent a servant
- 7
mediapublishingtypographyTo begin (a line or lines) at a greater or lesser distance from the margin. See indentation, and indention. Normal indent pushes in a line or paragraph. "Hanging indent" pulls the line out into the margin.
- to indent the first line of a paragraph one em
- to indent the second paragraph two ems more than the first
- 8
obsoleteTo crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.
- Seeing Orlando, it vnlink'd it selfe, And with indented glides, did slip away
另外 1 個記錄的用法
- 9
governmentmilitarypoliticsTo make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.
- What is the rule observed in India in indenting upon England for military stores ?
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。