bend 
Just ahead of us is a great bend in the river, beyond 
which the wind drops dt-ixil and the current hurls ns up un- 
der a beetling crag. C. W. Stoddard, Mashallah, p. 137. 
9. A curved or elbow-shaped pipe used to 
change direction, as in a drain. 10. A spring ; 
a leap: a bound. Jamieson. [Scotch.] 11. 
A " pull " of liquor. Jamieson. [Scotch.] 
Come, gie's the other beml, 
We'll drink their health, whatever way it end. 
Allan Jiammy, Gentle Shepherd, iii. 2. 
12. In mining, indurated clay, or any indurated 
argillaceous substance. Close-return bend, a 
short U-shaped tube joining the extremities of two 
wrought-iron pipes. Grecian bend, a mode of walking 
with a slight stoop forward, at one time affected by some 
women. 
bend 1 (bend), p. ; pret. and pp. lent, rarely tend- 
ed, ppr. bending. [< ME. benden, < AS. bcndan, 
bind, fetter, restrain, bend a bow (= MHG. 
benden, fetter, = Icel. benda = Sw. banda = Dan. 
bcende, bend; cf. OF. bender, mod. F. bander, 
tie, bind, bend, hoodwink, = Pr. bendar = Sp. 
Pg. vender, bind, hoodwink, = It. bendare, hood- 
wink), prop, fasten with a bend or band, < bend, 
E. bend 1 , a band, the noun being practically 
identical with band^, n. The nouns and verbs 
of these groups (band 1 , bcndl, band?, bend?, 
etc.) reacted on each other both in Teut. and 
Bom., developing a variety of senses which 
have a double reference.] I. trans. 1. To 
bring or strain into a state of tension by cur- 
vature, as a bow preparatory to launching an 
arrow. 
What, are the hounds before and all the woodmen, 
Our horses ready and our bows bent? 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iv. 1. 
Our English archers bent their howes, 
Their harts were good and trew ; 
Att the first flight of arrowes sent, 
Full four-score Scots they slew. 
Percy' a Reliques, p. 142. 
Hence 2. Figuratively, to brace up or bring 
into tension, like a strong bow: generally with 
up. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide ; 
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit 
To his full height ! Shak., Hen. V., iii. 1. 
Her whole mind apparently bent up to the solemn in- 
terview. Scott, Old Mortality, vii. 
3. To curve or make crooked; deflect from 
normal condition of straightness ; flex : as, to 
bend a stick; to bend the arm. 
In duty bend thy knee to me. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. 1. 
A kindly old man, . . . somewhat bent by his legal eru- 
dition, as a shelf is by the weight of the hooks upon it. 
Longfellow, Kavanagh, xvi. 
4. To direct to a certain point : as, to bend one's 
course, way, or steps; to bend one's looks or 
eyes. 
Towards Coventry bend we our course. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 8. 
Southwards, you may be sure, they bent their night, 
And harbour'd in a hollow rock at night. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, 1. 1747. 
How sweet are looks that ladies bend 
On whom their favors fall ! 
Tennyxon, Sir Galahad. 
5. Figuratively, to apply closely: said of the 
mind. 
It must needs be they should bend all their intentions 
and services to no other ends but to his. 
Milton, Church-Government, ii. 
To bend his mind to any public business. 
Sir W. Temple. 
6. To incline; determine: said of a person 
or of his disposition: as, to be bent on mis- 
chief. 
Where will inclineth to goodnes, the mynde is bent to 
troth. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 79. 
One great design on which the king's whole soul was 
bent. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
Still bent to make some port he knows not where. 
M. Arnold, A Summer Night. 
7. To cause to bow or yield; subdue; make 
submissive : as, to bend a man to one's will. 
Except she bend her humour. 
Shak., Cymbeline, i. 6. 
Oh there are words and looks 
To bend the sternest purpose ! 
Shelley, The Cenci, v. 4. 
8. Naut., to fasten by means of a bend or knot, 
as one rope to another, or to an anchor; to 
shackle, as a chain-cable to an anchor. Bent 
lever, trimmer, graver, etc. See the nouns. To bend 
a sail (naut.), to make it fast to its proper yard, gaff, or 
stay, ready for setting. To bend the brow or brows, 
to knit the brow ; scowl ; frown. 
II. intrans. 1. To be or become curved or 
crooked. 
Then was I as a tree 
Whose boughs did bend with fruit. 
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 3. 
522 
2. To incline; lean or turn; be directed: as, 
the road bends to the west. 
To whom our vows and wishes bend. 
Milton, Arcades, 1. 6. 
Our states daily 
Heading to bad, our hopes to worse. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, I. 1. 
Descend where alleys bend 
Into the sparry hollows of the world. Keats. 
3. To jut over ; overhang. 
There is a cliff whose high and tending head 
Looks fearfully in the confined deep. 
Shak., Lear, iv. 1. 
4. To bow or be submissive : as, to bend to 
fate. 
Most humbly therefore bending to your state. 
Shak., Othello, i. :i. 
Must we bend to the artist, who considers us as nothing 
unless we are canvas or marble under his hands? 
/. D' Israeli, Lit. Char. Men of Genius, p. 145. 
5. To spring; bound. Jamieson. [Scotch.] 
6. To drink hard. Jamieson. [Scotch.] To 
bend to the oars, to row vigorously. 
bend 2 (bend), n. [< ME. bend, bende, partly 
< AS. bend, a band used as an ornament (a 
sense of bend, E. bend 1 ); partly < OF. bende, 
mod. F. bande = Pr. benda = Sp. Pg. venda 
and banda = It. benda, banda, < ML. benda, 
binda, < OHG. binda, a band, fillet, tie, mixed 
with ML. (etc.) banda, < OHG. bend, etc. : see 
band?. Send? is thus in part historically iden- 
tical with bend 1 , but in part with band?. The 
separation is now merely formal.] If. A band 
or strip used to bind around anything; a strip, 
whether as a fastening or as an ornament ; a 
fillet, strap, bandage, etc. ; specifically, a rib- 
bon or bandeau for the head, used by ladies in 
the fifteenth century. 
And on her legs she painted buskins wore, 
Basted with bends of gold on every side. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. v. 3. 
2 . A name in the leather trade for a butt or round- 
ed crop cut in two ; the half of a hide of sole- 
leather that was trimmed and divided before 
tanning. 3. In Iter., one of the nine ordinaries, 
consisting of a diagonal band drawn from the 
dexter chief to the sinister base : when charged, 
it occupies a third of the field ; when uncharged, 
a fifth. Bearings are said to be in 
bend when they are placed upon the 
field obliquely in the direction of the 
bend ; the field is said to be divided per 
bend when divided diagonally in that 
direction, usually by a straight line, but 
sometimes a broken line, battled, un- 
de\ or the like, or by a still more com- 
plicated mark of division. See bend- 
wi^e. Also applied to a row of charges 
arranged in bend. In bend sinister 
and -per bend sinister are used in a 
similar way. Bend archy, in her., a band differing from 
the bend in that it is curved toward the sinister chief. 
Also called bend enarched or bowed. Bend archy, cor- 
onetty on the top, in her., a bend archy having the 
points or ornaments of a crown on the upper side. This 
is the well-known bearing of Saxony, which occurs in some 
English royal arms, notably in those of the present Prince 
of Wales. Bend arrondi, in her., a bend having one or 
both sides broken into concave curves. See gored.- - 
Bend cottised, in her., a bend having on each side a 
cottise, separated from the bend by its own width. A 
bend may be double cottised or treble cottised ; that is, 
it may have two or three cottises on each side. Bend 
sinister, in her. .Same as bend, 3, except that it is drawn 
from the sinister chief to the dexter base. 
bend 3 t (bend), n. [< late ME. bende, < OF. 
bende, var. of bande, a band : see bands.] An 
obsolete form of band 9 . 
A fayre flocke of faeries, and a fresh bend 
Of lovely Nymphs. Spenser, Shep. Cal., May. 
The Duke of Gloucester . . . and other Lords, the chief 
of his benit. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xviii. 15. 
bendable (ben'da-bl), a. [< bend* + -able.] 
Capable of being bent ; flexible. Sherwood. 
bende (bend), n . [Origin unknown.] A variety 
of the abelmoschus, used in cookery. McElrath. 
bendelt, . [ME., < OF. bendel, bandel, dim. 
of bende, bande, a band; doublet of bandel, 
bandeau.] 1. A little band or fillet. 2. In 
her., a little bend. 
bender (ben'der), n. 1. One who or that 
which bends. 2. A sixpence. [Eng. slang.] 
3. A leg. [TJ. S. slang.] 
The prospectus [of a new fashionable boarding-school] 
has been sent to our house. One of the regulations is, 
" Young ladies are not allowed to cross their benders in 
school ! " Longfellow, Kavanagh, xii. 
4. A spree ; a frolic. [U. S. slang.] 5. [Cf. 
bendl, n., 11.] A hard drinker. [Scotch.] 
Now lend your lungs, ye benders fine, 
Wha ken the benefit of wine. 
Allan Ramsay, Poems, III. 162 (1848). 
Bendigo ware. See pottery. 
A Bend azure. 
beneath 
bending 1 (ben'ding), n. [Verbal n. of bendl, 
:.] The act of causing to bend, or the state 
of being bent or deflected; a deflection. 
If matter that will not yield at each bend is deposited 
while the bendingx are continually taking place, the bend- 
ings will maintain certain places of discontinuity in the 
deposit. H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 257. 
bending 2 !, [< bend 2 , n., + -ing.] Decoration 
(of clothes) with stripes or horizontal bands. 
Chaucer. 
bending-machine (ben'ding-ma-shen"), n. An 
apparatus for bending to shape timber, rails, 
iron beams for ships, plates for boilers, etc. 
bending-strake (ben'ding-strak), . In sliip- 
hniliiini/, one of two strakes wrought near the 
deck-coverings, worked all fore and aft. They 
are about an inch or an inch and a half thicker than the 
remainder of the deck, but are lowered between the beams 
and ledges to make the upper side even with the rest. 
Their use is to make a more complete tie between the 
deck-frame and deck-plank. 
bend-leather (bend'leTH"er), n. [< bendl + 
leather.] The strongest kind of sole-leather 
for shoes. See bend?, 2. 
bendlet (bend'let), H. [Early mod. E. also 
bendclet, appar. < bende/ + -et ; but cf. OF. 
bendelette, dim. of bende, band. 
Doublet bandlet.] 1. In her., 
a bearing of the nature of the 
bend, but half as wide. Also 
called garter. 2. A name of 
the common British sea-ane- 
mone, Actinia mesembryanthe- 
A Bend between two mltm Bendlet sinister, in her., a 
Bendicts gules. bendlet drawn from the sinister chief 
to the dexter base. 
bendsome (bend'sum), a. [< benffl + -some. 
Cf. Intsiiiii.] Flexible; pliable. [Bare.] 
bendways (bend'waz), adr. Same as bcndtrise. 
bendwise (bend'wiz), adr. [< bend 2 + wise?.] 
In her., lying in the direction of the bend : 
said of any bearing: as, a sword ^ ^ 
bcndiri.-ii: 
bendwitht, . [ME. 'benwyt-tn 
(later var. benewith tre Prompt. 
Parv.) ; perhaps < bendl + with 2 
(cf. bindicith) ; but cf. Sw. ben- 
red, dogberry-tree, Icel. bein- 
vidhr, beinridhi, ebony (lit. bone- 
wood); also Icel. beinvtdhir, a A Sm>rd Be d " rise - 
willow (Salix arbuscula), lit. bone-withy.] An 
old name of a shrub not identified. Its twigs 
were used to tie up fagots. 
bendy (ben'di), a. [< OF. bende, F. bandt, pp. 
of bander, cross with bands: see bend?.] In 
her., divided into four or more diagonal parts 
in the direction of the bend : said of the field. 
This word is used, no matter how great the number of 
the divisions, as beiullely and cottisif, which would be the 
regular forms, are awkward in use. Bendy barry, in 
her. See barry bendy under barry%. Bendy paly, in 
/''.. divided by lines bendwise and palewise, and there- 
fore divided into lozenges. 
bendy-tree (ben'di-tre), . The Thespesia po- 
jinlnea, an ornamental tree of rapia growth, 
often planted in gardens and avenues in India. 
beneM, n. See ben 2 . 
bene 2 t, a. See bein. 
bene s , . See henne. 
bene-. [L. benc-, sometimes beni-, combining 
form of bene, adv., well, < bonus, good: see 
boon?, botius.] An element of some words of 
Latin origin, meaning well, good, as in bene- 
diction, benefit, benevolence, etc. : opposed to 
male-, mat-. 
bepeaped (be-nepf), a. [< be-i + neap + -ed?.] 
Naut., same as neaped. 
beneath (be-neth'), adv. and prep. [< ME. be- 
nethe, binethe, binethen, adv. and prep., < AS. 
beneothan, binithan, prep. (= OFries. binetha = 
D. beneden = LG. benedden = G. benieden), < be, 
by, + neothan, nithan, neothane (= OS. nithana 
= OHG. nidana. MHG. nidene, niden, G. nieden), 
below, orig., like nithe, below, from compar. 
nither, nether: see nether. Hence by apheresis 
neath. ; 'neath.] I. adv. 1. In a lower place, 
position, or state, literally or figuratively. 
Thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath. 
Deut. xxviii. IS. 
Every brain 
That looks so many fathoms to the sea, 
And hears it roar beneath. Shak., Hamlet, i. 4. 
The general's disdain'd 
By him one step below ; he, by the next; 
That next, by him beneath. Shak., T. and C., i. 3. 
2. Below, as opposed to on high, or in heaven 
or other superior region. 
Thou shalt not make . . . any likeness of anything that 
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath. 
Ex. xx. 4 . 
