bend

USBEND/bɛnd/

Noun pluralbends

25 meanings of bend

1
verbintransitive
To change shape and become curved instead of straight.
The young trees bend in the strong wind.
The plastic ruler bent after a day in the hot sun.
Similarsag, bow, buckle, flex, curve
Oppositestraighten
2
verbtransitive
To make something curve instead of staying straight.
Bend the straw so you can drink more easily.
He bent the wire into the shape of a heart.
Similarcurve, twist, warp, buckle, flex
Oppositestraighten
Note
3
nouncountable
A place where something long, like a road or pipe, curves.
Slow down before the sharp bend in the road.
The hiking trail has many bends, so watch your step.
Similarcurve, turn, corner, elbow
Oppositestraight
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4
verbintransitive
To turn and go in a different direction.
The road bends to the right after the school.
Rivers often bend when the land is not flat.
Similarcurve, turn, veer, swing
5
verbtransitive
To make something turn and go in a different direction.
Like a straw in a glass of water that looks broken: the water changes which way the light goes.
A glass of water can bend light in a surprising way.
The strong wind bent the smoke away from the houses.
Similardeflect, refract, divert
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6
verbintransitive
To lean the top part of your body forward and down.
I had to bend to get through the low doorway.
She bent down to tie her shoes.
Similarstoop, crouch, lean
Oppositestraighten
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7
verbintransitive
To lower your head or body to show respect or to pray.
People bend before the altar when they enter the church.
The servants bent low as the queen walked past.
Similarbow, kneel
8
verbtransitive
To make a person or group give in and do what you want.
The boss tried to bend the workers to his way of doing things.
Years of pressure finally bent the small country to its neighbor's demands.
Similarsubject
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9
verbintransitive
To stop fighting against something and do what others want.
She would not bend, even when everyone disagreed with her.
In the end, the city council bent and approved the new park.
Similaryield, submit, relent, give, capitulate
Oppositeresist
10
verbintransitive
To start working hard on a job and give it your full attention.
If we all bend to the work now, we can finish before dark.
The students bent to their projects as the deadline got closer.
Similarturn

11
verbtransitive
To put your mind or effort fully into a piece of work.
You should bend all your energy to passing the test.
She bent her mind to the puzzle until she solved it.
Similardevote, apply, direct, dedicate
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12
verbtransitive
To change facts or rules a little so they fit what you want.
Don't bend the rules just to help your friends win.
He bent the story so that he looked like the hero.
Similartwist, stretch, distort
Note
13
verbintransitive
To lean or turn toward something, the way thoughts or feelings can.
My thoughts bend toward home whenever I hear that song.
All eyes bent toward the door when it opened.
Similarturn, incline, tend, drift
14
verbtransitive
To make a music note slide smoothly higher or lower in sound.
Like the sound of a siren sliding up and down instead of jumping between notes.
Guitar players bend notes to make their songs sound more emotional.
She bent the last note of the song slowly upward.
Note
15
nouncountable
A smooth slide in sound from one music note to another, often made by pushing a guitar string.
He played a bend at the end of the guitar solo.
That bend in the song makes the guitar sound like it is crying.
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16
nounplural
A dangerous sickness divers get when they come up from deep water too fast.
Like opening a soda bottle: bubbles suddenly appear when the pressure drops.
The diver came up too quickly and got the bends.
If you get the bends, doctors put you in a special pressure chamber.
Note
17
nouncountable
A kind of knot used to tie the ends of two ropes together.
She used a bend to join the two ropes into one long line.
A good bend holds tight but is easy to untie later.
Note
18
verbtransitive
To tie a rope or chain to something so it stays in place.
The sailors bend the rope to a metal ring on the dock.
He bent the chain to the anchor before dropping it in the water.
Similartie, fasten, secure, attach, hitch
Oppositeuntie
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19
verbintransitive
To swing your body forward and back while rowing a boat.
The rowers bend together so the boat moves smoothly.
He bent hard at the start of the race.
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20
nouncountable
A wide stripe that crosses a shield from the upper left to the lower right.
The knight's shield had a red bend across a gold background.
You can see a bend on many old family shields in the museum.
Note
21
noununcountable
A very hard kind of clay that miners find while digging.
The diggers hit a thick layer of bend under the soft rock.
Cutting through bend takes much longer than cutting through coal.
Similarbind
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22
nouncountable
The best kind of thick leather, used for the bottoms of shoes.
The shoemaker chose a piece of bend for the new boots.
The tannery sold bend at a higher price than thinner hides.
23
nouncountableplural
The thickest, strongest boards along the sides of a wooden ship.
The builders fixed each bend to the ship's ribs with strong bolts.
Waves hit the bends first when the ship rolls in a storm.
Similarwale
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24
nouncountableplural
One of the curved ribs that give a ship's body its shape.
Workers raised each bend and fixed it to the ship's keel.
The bends give the ship its round shape from bottom to top.
Similarframe, rib
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25
nounobsolete
A person's aim or wish, or the way their mind leans.
Each man followed his own bend and would not change his plans.
Farewell, poor swain; thou art not for my bend.
1608, John Fletcher, The Faithful ShepherdessHere, bend means purpose or aim, what the speaker is set on.
Note

Practice

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Origin

From Old English bendan, meaning to bend a bow or to bind. It goes back to an old root meaning "to bind or tie."