Incline, v. t.
1. To cause to deviate from a line, position, or direction; to give a leaning, bend, or slope to; as, incline the column or post to the east; incline your head to the right. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear. Is. xxxvii. 17.
2. To impart a tendency or propensity to, as to the will or affections; to turn; to dispose; to influence. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. Ps. cxix. 36. Incline our hearts to keep this law. Book of Com. Prayer.
3. To bend; to cause to stoop or bow; as, to incline the head or the body in acts of reverence or civility. With due respect my body I inclined. Dryden.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Incline, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Inclined; p. pr. & vb. n. Inclining.]
1. To deviate from a line, direction, or course, toward an object; to lean; to tend; as, converging lines incline toward each other; a road inclines to the north or south.
2. Fig.: To lean or tend, in an intellectual or moral sense; to favor an opinion, a course of conduct, or a person; to have a propensity or inclination; to be disposed. Their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech. Judges ix. 3. Power finds its balance, giddy motions cease In both the scales, and each inclines to peace. Parnell.
3. To bow; to incline the head. Chaucer.
Syn. -- To lean; slope; slant; tend; bend.
Incline, n.
An inclined plane; an ascent o
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for incline; he lists it under bend, draw, influence, persuade, tip.
Where he writes about it:
To incline or influence is to bend another's wishes toward our own; to persuade is to draw them quite over. — from bend
In the figurative sense, attract is more nearly akin to incline, draw to induce. — from draw
Prompt and stir are words of mere suggestion toward some course of action; dispose, draw, incline, influence, and lead refer to the use of mild means to awaken in another a purpose or disposition to act. — from influence
Incline is a more formal word for tip, and also for slant or slope. — from tip