bend
/bɛnd/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms bends bending bent bended
- verb (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.”
- verb (intransitive) To become curved. “Look at the trees bending in the wind.”
- verb (transitive) To cause to change direction.
- verb (intransitive) To change direction. “The road bends to the right.”
- verb (intransitive) To be inclined; to direct itself.
- verb (intransitive, usually with "down") To stoop. “He bent down to pick up the pieces.”
- verb (intransitive) To bow in prayer, or in token of submission.
- verb (transitive) To force to submit. “They bent me to their will.”
- noun A curve. “There's a sharp bend in the road ahead.”
- noun Any of the various knots which join the ends of two lines.
- noun (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.”
- noun (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.
- noun (obsolete) Turn; purpose; inclination; ends.
- noun In the leather trade, the best quality of sole leather; a butt; sometimes, half a butt cut lengthwise.
- noun (mining) Hard, indurated clay; bind.
- noun (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.
- proper noun A ghost town and former railway community in central British Columbia, Canada. Named after a 90-degree curve in the railway line.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Tehama County, California, United States.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Maries County, Missouri, United States.
- proper noun A city, the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States.
Synonyms
flex bow courb curb curl curve crook incurvate twist turn bending fold crease plication flexure crimp bend dexter deform crouch stoop deflect turn away
Antonyms
Etymology
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 bind, band, bond.
Most places get their name from bends in rivers.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To strain or move out of a straight line; to crook by straining; to make crooked; to curve; to make ready for use by drawing into a curve; as, to bend a bow; to bend the knee.
- verb To turn toward some certain point; to direct; to incline. "Bend thine ear to supplication." Milton.
- verb To be moved or strained out of a straight line; to crook or be curving; to bow. The green earth's end Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend. Milton.
- verb To jut over; to overhang.
Etymology [AS. bendan to bend, fr. bend a band, bond, fr. bindan to bind. See Bind, v. t., and cf. 3d & 4th Bend.]
Etymology [See Bend, v. t., and cf. Bent, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bend”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details