bender
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɛndə/
enpr: bĕnʹdər
ipa: /ˈbɛndɚ/
rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)
Forms: form: benders
Etymology: Hypotheses:
* bend + -er. In sense of “heavy drinking”, originally generally “spree”, from 1846, of uncertain origin – vague contemporary sense of “something extraordinary”, connection to bend (e.g., bending elbow to drink (bend one's elbow)) or perhaps from Scottish sense of “strong drinker”.
* In Britain, for about four centuries, a sixpence was known as a bender because its silver content made it easy to bend in the hands. This was commonly done to create ‘love tokens’, many of which survive in collections to this day. The value of a sixpence was also enough to get thoroughly inebriated as taverns would often allow you to drink all day for two pence. This gave rise to the expression ‘going on a bender’.
* (interjection): From over the bender, referring to a person's arm (and sometimes accompanied by a gesture of the thumb backward over the shoulder); compare over the left shoulder.
Senses: glosses: One who, or that which, bends.
glosses: A device to aid bending of pipes to a specific angle.
examples: text: He's been out on a bender with his mates.
text: A couple of students of Williams College went over to North Adams on a bender. This would have been serious matter under the best of circumstances, but each returned with a “brick in his hat,” etc.
ref: 1857, Newspaper, April
text: "Wait, is this about the other night when you two lightweights totally went on that bender?"
ref: 2005 August 23, Haley Hazelton, Misfile (webcomic), 2005-08-23:
text: We can have a mad one, we can have a bender / Order what you want from the bartender / Come back to mine and all be splender / I'll give you a night to remember
ref: 2016 February 14, Joseph Adenuga, Darren Dixon, Tariq Devega, “Ladies Hit Squad” (track 6), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta ft. D Double E and ASAP Nast, Boy Better Know:
synonyms: batter
binge
glosses: A bout of heavy drinking.
examples: text: “So they're easy about having a bender in the house, are they, their lordships?”
ref: 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 6, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:
glosses: A homosexual man.
glosses: A simple shelter, made using flexible branches or withies.
examples: text: 'Oh and Gary, what happened in Ahmed?' 'Not guilty, sir.' 'Oh no! And Tredwell?' 'Bender.' 'Suspended sentence? So both walked. […]
ref: 2015, Olly Jarvis, Death by Dangerous, page 81:
text: He anticipated a prison sentence though he thought there was a slight possibility of 'getting off on a bender' (suspended sentence).
ref: 2019, Howard Williamson, Youth and Policy: Contexts and Consequences:
glosses: A suspended sentence.
examples: text: What will you take to be paid out?’ said the butcher. ‘The regular chummage is two–and–six. Will you take three bob?’ ‘And a bender,’ suggested the clerical gentleman. ‘Well, I don’t mind that; it’s only twopence a piece more,’ said Mr. Martin. ‘What do you say, now? We’ll pay you out for three–and–sixpence a week. Come!’
ref: 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers 42
glosses: A sixpence.
glosses: A spree, a frolic.
glosses: Something exceptional.
Synonyms: sense: bout of heavy drinking
word: binge
sense: bout of heavy drinking
word: spree
sense: bout of heavy drinking
word: toot
sense: homosexual man
word: male homosexual
sense: shelter
word: bender tent
Derived terms: bagel bender
banana bender
banana-bender
B-bender
bumder
conduit bender
fender-bender
fender bender
gender-bender
gender bender
hellbender
mindbender
over the bender
pipe bender
pretzel-bender
reality bender
spaghetti bender
spoonbender
taco bender
taco-bender
tickly-bender
wirebender