Pronunciations (3)
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/bɛnd/
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/bɪnd/
Pronunciation notes
- pin-pen-merger
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bɛnd
Verb
To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
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If you bend the pipe too far, it will break.
Don’t bend your knees.
To become curved.
Usage- Intransitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Look at the trees bending in the wind.
To cause to change direction.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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Bend thine ear to supplication.
Towards Coventry bend we our course.
More examples (1)
bending her eyes on the floor
To change direction.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The road bends to the right.
To be inclined; to direct itself.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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to whom our vows and wishes bend
To stoop.
Usage- Intransitive
- usually
- with "down"
- Examples
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He bent down to pick up the pieces.
To bow in prayer, or in token of submission.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Each to his great Father bends.
To force to submit.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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They bent me to their will.
Of liegers for her sweet, and which she after Except she bend her humour, shall be assured To taste of too.
More examples (1)
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.
To submit.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I am bending to my desire to eat junk food.
To apply to a task or purpose.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He bent the company's resources to gaining market share.
More examples (1)
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, [...]
when to mischief mortals bend their will
To apply oneself to a task or purpose.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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He bent to the goal of gaining market share.
To adapt or interpret to for a purpose or beneficiary.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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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.
To tie, as in securing a line to a cleat; to shackle a chain to an anchor; make fast.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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Bend the sail to the yard.
To smoothly change the pitch of a note.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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You should bend the G slightly sharp in the next measure.
To swing the body when rowing.
Usage- Intransitive
Noun
A curve.
- Examples
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There's a sharp bend in the road ahead.
I hear the train a comin'/It's rolling round the bend
More examples (1)
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.
Any of the various knots which join the ends of two lines.
- Examples
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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.
A severe condition caused by excessively quick decompression, causing bubbles of nitrogen to form in the blood; decompression sickness.
Usage- in-plural
- with the
- Examples
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A diver who stays deep for too long must ascend very slowly in order to prevent the bends.
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.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
Turn; purpose; inclination; ends.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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Farewell, poor swain; thou art not for my bend.
In the leather trade, the best quality of sole leather; a butt; sometimes, half a butt cut lengthwise.
Hard, indurated clay; bind.
The thickest and strongest planks in a ship's sides, more generally called wales, which have the beams, knees, and futtocks bolted to them.
Usage- in-plural
The frames or ribs that form the ship's body from the keel to the top of the sides.
Usage- in-plural
- Examples
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the midship bends
A glissando, or glide between one pitch and another, especially one accomplished by bending a string (such as on guitar).
Noun
a circular segment of a curve
- Broader terms
- Examples
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a bend in the road
a crook in the path
movement that causes the formation of a curve
- Synonyms
curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.)
- Synonyms
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
- Broader terms
- Examples
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a fold in the napkin
a crease in his trousers
More examples (3)
a plication on her blouse
a flexure of the colon
a bend of his elbow
diagonal line traversing a shield from the upper right corner to the lower left
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Verb
form a curve
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The stick does not bend
change direction
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The road bends
cause (an object) to assume a crooked or angular form
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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bend the rod
twist the dough into a braid
More examples (1)
the strong man could turn an iron bar
bend one's back forward from the waist on down
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he crouched down
She bowed before the Queen
More examples (1)
The young man stooped to pick up the girl's purse
turn from a straight course, fixed direction, or line of interest
- Broader terms
bend a joint
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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flex your wrists
bend your knees