From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishreclinere‧cline /rɪˈklaɪn/ verb 1 [intransitive] formalLIE DOWN to lie or lean back in a relaxed wayrecline in/on I spent Sunday reclining in a deckchair. A solitary figure was reclining on the grass.2 [intransitive, transitive]BACK/BACKWARDS if you recline a seat, or if it reclines, you lower the back of the seat so that you can lean back in itreclining seat/chair→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
recline• The seats reclined and had footrests, tray tables and reading lights.• Antoinette reclined here, surrounded by the doctor's wife, the pharmacist's wife, the teacher's wife.• Reclining in a comfortable chair, David idly flipped through a magazine.• Seder participants recline on pillows, for example, because they had no such luxury as slaves, the children said.• Many of Roche's earlier paintings are of young men reclining on sofas.• There were some other, mostly elderly ladies and they reclined on the divans spread on the floor.• He was reclining on the lounge chair which had been his cradle during his trip through space.• Our coaches are luxurious, offering plenty of space, reclining seats, toilet and many other features.• Her reclining wheelchair, a chest respirator, and a small end table for her suction machine stood by.recline in/on• A number of the pictures place the model in the traditional pose reclining on a bed or sofa.• For nova-hunting, Alcock uses hand-held binoculars which he can sweep freely over the sky as he reclines in a deckchair.• At eighty-two, Margarett, reclining on a hospital bed in an apartment high above Boston, told me the story.• Davis was reclining in an easy chair.• Seder participants recline on pillows, for example, because they had no such luxury as slaves, the children said.• Sighing like an old Negro cotton-picker, I reclined on the bed and smoked a cigarette.• Lindsey found herself gazing with fascination at the figure reclining in the bed.reclining seat/chair• An entrepreneur had left a big corporate job and bought a small company that manufactures reclining chairs.• Hastily Stevens laid down his book on Third World debt and straightened his reclining chair.• All the coaches have air-conditioning, reclining seats and tinted windows.• A new chaise longue and reclining chair have been added to the light shapely chairs already in production.• North Sea Ferries include 5 course dinner and reclining seat in all prices.• Hours later he lay in his reclining chair, lulled by a gin and tonic, by Debussy on the radio.• My thumb press ing on the reclining seat on the plane, head back-gin and tonic in front of me.• Our coaches are luxurious, offering plenty of space, reclining seats, toilet and many other features.Origin recline (1400-1500) Old French recliner, from Latin reclinare, from clinare “to bend” 