bend

present singular third person bends · participle present bending · participle past bent · past bent · archaic participle past bended · archaic past bended

1. transitiveTo cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means.

   Don’t bend your knees.

   1 more example

   If you bend the pipe too far, it will break.

   Synonyms: flex

2. intransitiveTo become curved.

   Look at the trees bending in the wind.

   Synonyms: flex

3. transitiveTo cause to change direction.

   bending her eyes on the floor

   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

   2 more examples

   Bend thine ear to supplication.

   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

   Towards Coventry bend we our course.

   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]

4. intransitiveTo change direction.

   The road bends to the right.

5. intransitiveTo be inclined; to direct itself.

   to whom our vows and wishes bend

   1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC

6. intransitiveusuallyTo stoop.

   He bent down to pick up the pieces.

7. intransitiveTo bow in prayer, or in token of submission.

   Each to his great Father bends.

   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

8. transitiveTo force to submit.

   They bent me to their will.

   2 more examples

   Of liegers for her sweet, and which she after Except she bend her humour, shall be assured To taste of too.

   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]

   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.

   2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: Leviathan, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: 2181 Despoina

9. intransitiveTo submit.

   I am bending to my desire to eat junk food.

10. transitiveTo apply to a task or purpose.

    He bent the company's resources to gaining market share.

    2 more examples

    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, [...]

    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

    when to mischief mortals bend their will

    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

11. intransitiveTo apply oneself to a task or purpose.

    He bent to the goal of gaining market share.

12. transitiveTo adapt or interpret to for a purpose or beneficiary.

    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.

    2011, Demetrios S. Katos, Palladius of Helenopolis: The Origenist Advocate, page 60

13. transitivenauticalTo tie, as in securing a line to a cleat; to shackle a chain to an anchor; make fast.

    Bend the sail to the yard.

14. transitiveentertainmentTo smoothly change the pitch of a note.

    You should bend the G slightly sharp in the next measure.

15. intransitivenauticalTo swing the body when rowing.

plural bends

1. A curve.

   There's a sharp bend in the road ahead.

   2 more examples

   I hear the train a comin'/It's rolling round the bend

   1968, Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues

   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.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. Any of the various knots which join the ends of two lines.

   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.

   2012, Percy W. Blandford, Practical Knots and Ropework, page 67

3. in pluraldivingA severe condition caused by excessively quick decompression, causing bubbles of nitrogen to form in the blood; decompression sickness.

   A diver who stays deep for too long must ascend very slowly in order to prevent the bends.

4. governmentOne 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.

   1 more example

   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.

   1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 63–64

5. obsoleteTurn; purpose; inclination; ends.

   Farewell, poor swain; thou art not for my bend.

   1608, John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess, act 1, scene 3

6. In the leather trade, the best quality of sole leather; a butt; sometimes, half a butt cut lengthwise.
7. businessHard, indurated clay; bind.
8. in pluralnauticalThe thickest and strongest planks in a ship's sides, more generally called wales, which have the beams, knees, and futtocks bolted to them.
9. in pluralnauticalThe frames or ribs that form the ship's body from the keel to the top of the sides.

   the midship bends

10. entertainmentA glissando, or glide between one pitch and another, especially one accomplished by bending a string (such as on guitar).

1. A ghost town and former railway community in central British Columbia, Canada. Named after a 90-degree curve in the railway line.
2. A census-designated place in Tehama County, California, United States.
3. An unincorporated community in Maries County, Missouri, United States.
4. A city, the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States.

   Many locals thought doing so contradicted the democratic spirit of skiing, where strangers sharing a lift chair might include both billionaires with second homes in Bend and ski bums living in vans.

   2025 January 23, John Branch, “Revenge of the Ski Bums”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Feb 2025

5. An unincorporated community in Meade County, South Dakota, United States.
6. An unincorporated community in Lampasas County and San Saba County, Texas, United States.
7. A surname.