recumbent - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Adjective
recumbent (comparative more recumbent, superlative most recumbent)
- Lying down.
- ✤ Yes, we became very wakeful; so much so that our recumbent position began to grow wearisome, and by little and little we found ourselves sitting up; the clothes well tucked around us, leaning against the head-board with our four knees drawn up close together, and our two noses bending over them, as if our kneepans were warming-pans.1
- Inactive; idle.
Noun
recumbent (plural recumbents)
- A bicycle or tricycle that places the rider in a reclined posture.
- ✤ Synonym: recumbent bicycle
- (archaeology) A large rectangular monolith lying on its side, typically flanked by two large upright stones, the flankers; found in recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and the counties of Cork and Kerry in south-west of Ireland.
Etymology
From Latin present participle recumbēns, from recumbō (“to recline”).
Pronunciation
- Audio (US): 🔊
Printed 2026-10-10.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Footnotes
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1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 11”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC: ↩