depend
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈpɛnd/
ipa: /də-/
ipa: /di-/
rhymes: -ɛnd
Forms: form: depends
form: depending
form: depended
form: depended
Etymology: From Middle English dependen, from Old French dependre and Latin dependeō, from Latin dē- + pendeō (“to hang”). In this sense, displaced native Old English hangian (“to hang or depend”).
Senses: examples: text: We would like to go skiing, but it depends on the amount of snow.
text: Gold don't carry any curse with it. It all depends on whether or not the guy who finds it is the right guy. The way I see it, gold can be as much of a blessing as a curse
ref: 1948, John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, spoken by Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart):
synonyms: hinge on
ride
pivot
qualifier: formerly also by of like independent does
glosses: To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
raw_tags: followed by on or upon
examples: text: we should all be able to depend on the word or assurance of our friends
text: we depend on the mailman to come at the usual time.
text: "It's another wedding present, you may depend," Dicky said—"a beastly surprise, I shouldn't wonder."
ref: 1904, Edith Nesbit, The New Treasure Seekers, Chapter 1:
glosses: To trust; to have confidence; to rely.
raw_tags: followed by on or upon
examples: text: The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows.
ref: 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
text: In the centre is an Imperial Crown, from which depend a Harp of gold and the Badge.
ref: 1893, John Edwin Cussen (1837–1899), Handbook of Heraldry, 4th edition, London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, via Internet Archive (UC Berkeley), page 247:
text: Bronze chandeliers with many globes depended from the low, slightly vaulted ceiling, and the fresco paintings ran flat and dull all round the walls without windows, representing scenes of the chase and of outdoor revelry in medieval costumes.
ref: 1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent:
text: He had prepared a sort of collar of leather with many straps depending from it.
ref: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
text: Besides, if you worked up to be a cadet officer, you got to wear a Sam Browne belt, from which depended a nifty saber.
ref: 1982, Paul Fussell, My War:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above, especially in heraldry, where a badge, decoration, or element is suspended from another part of an achievement of arms.
examples: text: a cause depending in court
text: While the Bishops Affair was depending, the King sent orders [...]
ref: 1703, The History Of King William The Third. In III Parts:
text: In perjury, the capias, warrant, and affidavit, are good evidence that a cause was depending.
ref: 1836, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench:
text: "A Letter of the King sent to his Proctors at Rome, concerning a Case of his in the said Court depending."
ref: 1837, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, page 544:
glosses: To be pending; to be undetermined or undecided.
examples: text: There he wilted, obviously depending the disposal of his person and his plight on Bradly, and expecting that to be done at once, too.
ref: 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:
glosses: To cause to be contingent or dependent on; to set as a necessity.
Derived terms: dependability
dependable
dependancy
dependant
dependee
dependence
dependent
depender
dependingly
depending on
interdepend
like one's life depended on it
undepending
Related terms: depending