flexing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of flex.

   The bridge keeps flexing slightly as heavy trucks pass over it.

   She was flexing her wrist carefully after removing the brace.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. After a form of be it builds the progressive (she is flexing her wrist), and in a noun slot it works as a gerund (flexing helps recovery). Its range follows the verb, from bending a joint or tightening a muscle to the slang sense of showing off, which can stand with or without an object.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of showing off, especially one's possessions, wealth, or achievements.

   Like a peacock spreading its tail so everyone is forced to admire it.

   The rapper's lyrics are full of flexing about cars, jewelry, and money.

   Her endless flexing about the promotion wore thin with the team.

   Similarflaunting

   Oppositemodesty, humility

   Note

   The muscle-display meaning turned figurative: tightening the muscles to show size or strength became showing off anything at all. It sits beside flaunting, but like the verb's show-off senses it belongs to slang, so it suits casual talk and reads oddly in formal prose. Context separates it from the literal bending noun: a bridge's flexing is mechanics, while a colleague's flexing is vanity.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of flexing, whether by bending something or by tightening the muscles.

   Like a tree trunk swaying and bowing in a strong wind.

   Engineers measured the flexing of the bridge deck during rush hour.

   The repeated flexing of the athlete's calf muscles built lasting endurance.

   Similarbending, flexion, deflection, contraction

   Note

   Here the -ing word settles into a true noun, and its grammar shows it. It can be counted (flexings), and it takes its object with of, as in the flexing of the bridge deck. Compare flexing the deck, where the word still behaves like a verb and takes a direct object. The noun covers both the mechanical give of a structure and the work of a muscle.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3