bend
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: bĕnd
ipa: /bɛnd/
ipa: /bɪnd/
rhymes: -ɛnd
Forms: form: bends
form: bending
form: bent
form: bent
form: bended
form: bended
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.
Senses: examples: text: If you bend the pipe too far, it will break.
text: Don’t bend your knees.
glosses: To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means.
examples: text: Look at the trees bending in the wind.
glosses: To become curved.
examples: text: Bend thine ear to supplication.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: Towards Coventry bend we our course.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene viii]:
text: bending her eyes on the floor
ref: 1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
glosses: To cause to change direction.
examples: text: The road bends to the right.
glosses: To change direction.
examples: text: to whom our vows and wishes bend
ref: 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:
glosses: To be inclined; to direct itself.
examples: text: He bent down to pick up the pieces.
glosses: To stoop.
raw_tags: with "down"
examples: text: Each to his great Father bends.
ref: 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC:
glosses: To bow in prayer, or in token of submission.
examples: text: They bent me to their will.
text: Of liegers for her sweet, and which she after
Except she bend her humour, shall be assured
To taste of too.
ref: 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]:
text: 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.
ref: 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: Leviathan, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: 2181 Despoina:
glosses: To force to submit.
examples: text: I am bending to my desire to eat junk food.
glosses: To submit.
examples: text: He bent the company's resources to gaining market share.
text: 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, [...]
ref: 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:
text: when to mischief mortals bend their will
ref: 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:
glosses: To apply to a task or purpose.
examples: text: He bent to the goal of gaining market share.
glosses: To apply oneself to a task or purpose.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2011, Demetrios S. Katos, Palladius of Helenopolis: The Origenist Advocate, page 60:
glosses: To adapt or interpret to for a purpose or beneficiary.
examples: text: Bend the sail to the yard.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To tie, as in securing a line to a cleat; to shackle a chain to an anchor; make fast.
examples: text: You should bend the G slightly sharp in the next measure.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To smoothly change the pitch of a note.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To swing the body when rowing.
Synonyms: word: bend
word: bow
word: courb
word: curb
word: curl
word: curve
word: crook
word: flex
word: incurvate
Hypernyms: word: form
Hyponyms: word: arch
word: coil
word: frizzle
word: roll up
word: rebend
word: recurve
word: inbend
word: inflect
Derived terms: backbend
bendability
bendable
bend down
bender
bend it like Beckham
bend one off
bend one's elbow
bend out of shape
bend over
bend over backwards
bend somebody's ear
bend someone's ear
bend someone's will
bend the brain
bend the knee
bend the rules
bend the truth
bend to one's will
bend to someone's will
brain-bending
databend
debend
disbend
genderbend
inbend
mind-bending
on bended knee
overbend
prebend
racebend
rebend
unbend
upbend