Wiktionary

bend

See also: Bend and bənd

English

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A bend in a river

Etymology

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From Middle English benden, from Old English bendan (“to bind or bend (a bow), fetter, restrain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bandijan, from Proto-Germanic *bandijaną (“to bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind, tie”). Cognate with Middle High German benden (“to fetter”), Danish bænde (“to bend”), Norwegian bende (“to bend”), Faroese benda (“to bend, inflect”), Icelandic benda (“to bend”). Related to band, bond.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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bend (third-person singular simple present bends, present participle bending, simple past and past participle bent or (archaic) bended)

  1. (transitive) To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means.
    If you bend the pipe too far, it will break.
    Don’t bend your knees.
  2. (intransitive) To become curved.
    Look at the trees bending in the wind.
  3. (transitive) To cause to change direction.
  4. (intransitive) To change direction.
    The road bends to the right.
  5. (intransitive) To be inclined; to direct itself.
  6. (intransitive, usually with "down") To stoop.
    He bent down to pick up the pieces.
  7. (intransitive) To bow in prayer, or in token of submission.
  8. (transitive) To force to submit.
    They bent me to their will.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
      Of liegers for her sweet, and which she after
      Except she bend her humour, shall be assured
      To taste of too.
    • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: Leviathan, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: 2181 Despoina:
      Leviathan: You cannot conceive of a galaxy that bends to your will.
      Leviathan: Every creature, every nation, every planet we discovered became our tools. We were above the concerns of lesser species.
  9. (intransitive) To submit.
    I am bending to my desire to eat junk food.
  10. (transitive) To apply to a task or purpose.
    He bent the company's resources to gaining market share.
    • 1679, William Temple, “An Essay upon the Cure of Gout by Moxa. […]”, in Miscellanea. […], London: […] A. M. and R. R. for Edw[ard] Gellibrand, […], →OCLC, page 192:
      And I remember one great Miniſter that confeſt to me, when he fell into one of his uſual Fits of the Gout, He was no longer able to bend his mind or thoughts to any Publick Buſineſs, [...]
    • 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto III:
      when to mischief mortals bend their will
  11. (intransitive) To apply oneself to a task or purpose.
    He bent to the goal of gaining market share.
  12. (transitive) To adapt or interpret to for a purpose or beneficiary.
    • 2011, Demetrios S. Katos, Palladius of Helenopolis: The Origenist Advocate, page 60:
      Palladius did not lie, although he might have bent the facts a bit and even passed over in silence whatever might not have benefited his client's cause.
  13. (transitive, nautical) To tie, as in securing a line to a cleat; to shackle a chain to an anchor; make fast.
    Bend the sail to the yard.
  14. (transitive, music) To smoothly change the pitch of a note.
    You should bend the G slightly sharp in the next measure.
  15. (intransitive, nautical) To swing the body when rowing.

Derived terms

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terms derived from bend (verb)

Translations

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to swing the body when rowing
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Noun

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bend (plural bends)

 
Azure a bend or, the arms of Scrope
  1. A curve.
    There's a sharp bend in the road ahead.
    • 1968, Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues:
      I hear the train a comin'/It's rolling round the bend
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  2. Any of the various knots which join the ends of two lines.
    • 2012, Percy W. Blandford, Practical Knots and Ropework, page 67:
      A simpler version of the common bend with its ends in the same direction is used to join binder twine in a hay baling machine.
  3. (in the plural, medicine, underwater diving, with the) A severe condition caused by excessively quick decompression, causing bubbles of nitrogen to form in the blood; decompression sickness.
    A diver who stays deep for too long must ascend very slowly in order to prevent the bends.
  4. (heraldry) One of the honourable ordinaries formed by two diagonal lines drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base; it generally occupies a fifth part of the shield if uncharged, but if charged one third.
    Coordinate terms: bendlet, cost, garter, riband, baton, scrape
    • 1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 63–64:
      Perhaps the most celebrated coat of arms is that of Scrope, which is Azure a bend Or. This is the coat over which, from 1385 to 1390, Sir Robert le Grosvenor and Sir Richard le Scrope invoked the High Court of Chivalry to decide which of them had the right to bear these arms. Chaucer gave evidence before the court. In the end the arms were awarded to Scrope, and Grosvenor was ordered to difference with a bordure Argent. This he disdained to do, and being highly dissatisfied with the verdict he appealed to Richard II who altered the decision of the court by refusing to allow the bend to Grosvenor at all! Grosvenor then adopted a garb, or sheaf of corn.
  5. (obsolete) Turn; purpose; inclination; ends.
  6. In the leather trade, the best quality of sole leather; a butt; sometimes, half a butt cut lengthwise.
  7. (mining) Hard, indurated clay; bind.
  8. (nautical, in the plural) The thickest and strongest planks in a ship's sides, more generally called wales, which have the beams, knees, and futtocks bolted to them.
  9. (nautical, in the plural) The frames or ribs that form the ship's body from the keel to the top of the sides.
    the midship bends
  10. (music) A glissando, or glide between one pitch and another.

Derived terms

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terms derived from bend (noun)

Translations

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nautical: frames or ribs that form the ship's body
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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References

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  • The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [1]

Anagrams

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Albanian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Indo-European *band (“drop”). Compare Phrygian βεδυ (bedu, “water”), Sanskrit बिन्दु (bindú, “drop”), Middle Irish banna, baina (“drop”) and possibly Latin Fōns Bandusiae.

Noun

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bend m

  1. pond, water reservoir
  2. idle or provocative words
  3. servant, henchman
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Northern Kurdish

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Noun

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bend ?

  1. slave

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From benda, bende (“to bend”).

Noun

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bend n (definite singular bendet, indefinite plural bend, definite plural benda)

  1. a bend
  2. a bent position
  3. a butt on a thick rope

Participle

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bend (neuter bendt, definite singular and plural bende)

  1. past participle of benda

Verb

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bend

  1. imperative of benda

References

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Old English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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bend m

  1. bond, coil
  2. ribbon
  3. crown, ornament

Declension

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Strong a-stem:

singular plural
nominative bend bendas
accusative bend bendas
genitive bendes benda
dative bende bendum

References

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  • Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “bend”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎[2], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Sara M. Pons-Sanz (2013) The Lexical Effects of Anglo-Scandanavian Linguistic Contact on Old English, Turhout, Belgium: Brepolis Publishers, page 72

Old Norse

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Participle

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bend

  1. inflection of bendr:
    1. strong feminine nominative singular
    2. strong neuter nominative/accusative plural

Verb

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bend

  1. second-person singular active imperative of benda

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English bend.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bend m (plural bends)

  1. (music, electric guitar) bend (change in pitch produced by bending a string)

Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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From English band.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bȅnd m (Cyrillic spelling бе̏нд)

  1. (music) band (group of musicians)

Declension

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Declension of bend
singular plural
nominative bȅnd bendovi / bendi
genitive benda bendova / benda
dative bendu bendovima / bendima
accusative bȅnd bendove / bende
vocative bȅnde bendovi / bendi
locative bendu bendovima / bendima
instrumental bendom bendovima / bendima
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  NODES
Note 2
Verify 12