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bend
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
bend
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bend in a river
▪ He rounded a bend in the river and saw Flora sitting there.
bend/stretch the rules (=allow someone to do something that is not normally allowed)
▪ They bend the rules to suit themselves.
bow/bend/lower your head (=look down)
▪ He bowed his head and tried not not to look at her.
drive sb up the wall/round the bend/out of their mindspoken informal (= make someone feel very annoyed)
▪ That voice of hers drives me up the wall.
hairpin bend
rounded...bend
▪ As they rounded the bend and came in sight of the river, Philip took her hand.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
back
▪ Leave to dry overnight before gently bending back the waxed paper and lifting off the piped outlines with a palette knife.
▪ I pulled at chunks of the glass, the stuff bending back and forth, fighting back.
forward
▪ They ordered the young women to remove their upper garments and then to bend forward until their foreheads touched the cold sand.
round
▪ The photograph on the facing page shows a pair of pictures, illustrating two curved designs bending round towards each other.
▪ Then came the corner, the road bending round the walled compound of a Sheikh's racing stables.
▪ To the Hawaiian eye, waves are light rays bending round the planet from distant lands.
▪ It goes straight for a few yards and then bends round the corner into blackness.
slightly
▪ Seated there, she would bend slightly over the typewriter, spreading her full muscular jean-clad thighs.
■ NOUN
arm
▪ Christine had to bend her arm down by her side to get her fingers to connect with the keys.
▪ After a few days, Neil would bend his arms when pinched, though his legs were still rigid.
▪ Place the fingertips of both hands on your shoulders, bending your arms at the elbow.
▪ You may bend the lower arm a little if you wish.
body
▪ The horse should bend throughout his whole body and not just through his head and neck.
▪ Now keep it there and bend your body gradually sideways to the right, keeping your right arm pointing straight down.
foot
▪ When the ball is below my feet, I bend over a little more.
▪ Maurice sprang to his feet, slightly bending his head, soas to avoid stunning himself on the roof.
▪ As you step-tap on to alternate feet, straighten and bend the left elbow to work the front of the arm.
hand
▪ Shape a green arm with a pink hand which will bend around the door, and a green pointed foot.
▪ Alternatively, hold a heavy medicine ball in both hands, bend your elbows and thrust it from you.
leg
▪ The back of the leg has large muscles known as the leg biceps which bend the leg.
rule
▪ Only a zombie would risk a child's health by refusing to bend a rule.
▪ The state government was willing to bend the rules where necessary to stop penalizing employers for creating jobs.
▪ The willingness to bend the rules to authorize a major invasion of civil liberties contrasts sharply with the Spycatcher case.
▪ These are urgent issues because the few charities that bend or break the rules put the law-abiding majority at a disadvantage.
▪ However, it may yet be tempted to bend the rules to admit the two newcomers.
▪ This bending of the rules was typical of Rabari thrift and good sense.
▪ The advice on bending the rules came from the then Defence Minister, Alan Clark.
▪ It can be done, if you, or your travel agent, are willing to bend airline rules.
truth
▪ Unless very few ladies account for most male conquests, that suggests we all bend the truth.
▪ They don't just bend the truth, they simply reverse it.
▪ More serious still is her unfortunate tendency to bend the truth.
waist
▪ He pulled, and managed to bend forwards at the waist like an oarsman.
▪ Then I bend at the waist, and with a strike of a match, I set the last prairie on fire.
▪ Slowly bend from the waist, lowering the bar towards the floor and keeping the legs straight.
▪ She bends forward from the waist.
▪ Instead, stiff legged, he merely bends at the waist like a man twice his 37 years.
will
▪ If she thought by this means she might bend me to her will, she was as mistaken as you are now.
▪ The flowing lava of need spread throughout her loins, making her a strong forceful Amazon, bending the girl at will.
▪ All my life I have tried to manipulate people - bend them to my will.
▪ The world was bending to my will at last.
▪ The application of shock tactics to bend the will of the unwilling.
▪ Most of us can think more or less unemotionally when we bend our wills to that.
▪ None of all this will bend my will.
■ VERB
appear
▪ At the point where the air and water meet, the straw appears to bend.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be bent double
▪ The old man was bent double under his load.
bend/lean over backwards (to do sth)
▪ Outside the trees are bending over backwards to please the wind: the shining sword grass flattens on its belly.
▪ Stuart was leaning over backwards to see Oliver's point of view.
▪ The authors, however, bend over backwards to avoid consideration of that particular class scenario.
▪ The Gallery is also bending over backwards to boost attendance, and in doing so is rather alarmingly bowing to populist pressures.
▪ They also needed to stop rationalizing the problem to themselves and bending over backwards to be fair.
▪ You should bend over backwards to avoid bitter personal rows and the holding of grudges.
bent on sth
bent out of shape
▪ Hey, don't get all bent out of shape!
blind bend/corner
▪ A combination of blind bends, and high speed frustrations has created a string of accident black spots.
▪ Miss Defy screeched around a blind bend into the path of an oncoming sedan.
▪ The lanes twisted across the spine of land in a series of blind corners and Miranda took each one without changing down.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ At the top of the hill, the path bends sharply left and enters a small woodland.
▪ He bent and kissed the child on the head.
▪ He bent the wire into an 'S' shape.
▪ I tried opening it with the knife but the blade bent.
▪ If the Christmas tree is fresh, the needles will bend without breaking.
▪ Relax your arms and bend your elbows slightly.
▪ She bent towards me and whispered in my ear.
▪ Someone had bent the aerial.
▪ The branches of the tree bent over into the water.
▪ The doctor says no bending or lifting for at least six weeks.
▪ The metal bar bends in the middle.
▪ The road bends right then left, before passing a petrol station.
▪ We had to bend the branches back so we could get through the bushes and back onto the path.
▪ You can't bend the steel without some kind of tool.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He never woke to see the shining silvery form bending over him.
▪ Lie on your side and bend the lower leg.
▪ They ordered the young women to remove their upper garments and then to bend forward until their foreheads touched the cold sand.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
blind
▪ A combination of blind bends, and high speed frustrations has created a string of accident black spots.
▪ Miss Defy screeched around a blind bend into the path of an oncoming sedan.
final
▪ Coming round the final bend he had opened up a substantial lead and seemed to be coasting home.
▪ As I rounded the final bend I came face to face with the water jump.
▪ St Jovite was in a winning position on the final bend, but the race soon developed into its final desperate duel.
▪ It was beginning to look ominous for the Light Blues, as the final bend favoured Oxford.
▪ Breaking into a run she rounded the final bend and the chapel appeared before her.
sharp
▪ This required 18 traverses, short stretches of road linked by sharp bends, with beyond it a ravine.
▪ Soon the whole bunch was swallowed up in the little road, which made a sharp bend at that eastern point.
▪ These tubes should be of adequate bore, without sharp bends, and as short as practicable.
▪ Now there are only seconds between the sharp bends.
▪ The voices grew louder, and presently I caught sight of the men as they rounded a sharp bend ....
▪ Surely they can't begrudge us for being a tad sharper round the bends?
▪ I looked out of the window and saw we were negotiating one of the sharp bends not far from the Villa des Lilas.
▪ He knows how to corner without disaster and is quite a rally driver on the sharp bends.
■ NOUN
hairpin
▪ There are terrifying hairpin bends, sharp dips and sudden ascents.
▪ When not thinking about puking your guts up round every hairpin bend, scenery magnificent.
▪ She floated above and ahead of them, and her eyes narrowed on to a shimmer of water at a hairpin bend.
▪ No one tackles its succession of hairpin bends unless they have to: it is a particularly dangerous stretch of road.
▪ It should be noted that hairpin bends are often necessary geographical features in high and exciting terrain.
▪ Some of the hairpin bends had Ruth clinging to her seat and holding her breath.
▪ When the road turns sharply left in a hairpin bend, take the footpath ahead into the woodland.
▪ Climbing the steep mountain roads round hairpin bends was quite dramatic and more than once I had glimpses of distant eagles.
■ VERB
come
▪ Then he came around the bend and saw the bicycle.
▪ We came around a bend, and soon found out why the oncoming traffic had stopped.
▪ We lined up in the final and I came off the bend well in the lead.
▪ That smell was just terrible: We used to cover Our faces when we came near the bend with bandannas.
▪ As they came round a bend they met a lorry overtaking a tractor.
▪ She came to the bend of the track, where the clump of twisted trees hid the view beyond.
▪ The next day he starts at one car coming around a bend a little fast.
▪ While she was trying to restart her Mini Metro car another came round the bend from Darlington.
turn
▪ Then, as they turned a bend, Silas unexpectedly stepped closer to her side.
▪ One at a time as they turned the bend, Ezra watched their faces stretch.
▪ We turn a bend in the road and there in front of us is an entrance to a town.
▪ He turned the third bend and found that the green path petered out in undergrowth.
▪ He turned the slight bend in the road.
▪ Before the first shots rang out, Adam had turned the shallow bend and was shielded by the safety of the trees.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be bent double
▪ The old man was bent double under his load.
bend/lean over backwards (to do sth)
▪ Outside the trees are bending over backwards to please the wind: the shining sword grass flattens on its belly.
▪ Stuart was leaning over backwards to see Oliver's point of view.
▪ The authors, however, bend over backwards to avoid consideration of that particular class scenario.
▪ The Gallery is also bending over backwards to boost attendance, and in doing so is rather alarmingly bowing to populist pressures.
▪ They also needed to stop rationalizing the problem to themselves and bending over backwards to be fair.
▪ You should bend over backwards to avoid bitter personal rows and the holding of grudges.
bent on sth
bent out of shape
▪ Hey, don't get all bent out of shape!
blind bend/corner
▪ A combination of blind bends, and high speed frustrations has created a string of accident black spots.
▪ Miss Defy screeched around a blind bend into the path of an oncoming sedan.
▪ The lanes twisted across the spine of land in a series of blind corners and Miranda took each one without changing down.
take a bend/fence/corner etc
▪ But Jack managed to have Bailey taking a corner - and then Bailey heading the flag-kick into the net.
▪ He was also taking fencing, just because it was new and different.
▪ Lucker has not been taking corners well.
▪ Next time she came ... He began fantasising and had to take avoiding action 81 when he took a corner too wide.
▪ Riding to hounds, taking fences and obstacles along a route dictated by the fox is a very skilled activity.
▪ They take corners to the far post and have a direct shot at goal from a free kick.
▪ Vi took a corner seat farthest away from the door.
▪ We took a corner table and sat down.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ As we rounded the bend, I could see the town up ahead.
▪ He rounded a sharp bend, and suddenly the deep blue Mediterranean lay before him.
▪ Start with a few knee bends.
▪ The balcony overlooked a wide bend in the river.
▪ The bus creaked slowly round the hairpin bend.
▪ The creek goes around a bend by the farm.
▪ The plane flew low, following the bends of the river.
▪ The taxi went around the bend at an alarming speed.
▪ You go around a bend and the farm is on the right.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ If you are known to be seeing a shrink you are deemed to be going round the bend.
▪ Let's start with the one just posed: Why are all the best views on the worst bends?
▪ Nobody was in sight when he looked back from the bend in the path.
▪ There was a private balcony that overlooked a wide bend in the river that runs through Minsk.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
bend

Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. Ordinaries (-r[i^]z).

  1. (Law)

    1. (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right, and not by deputation.

    2. (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also, a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to perform divine service for condemned criminals and assist in preparing them for death.

    3. (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.

  2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]

    I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature's salework.
    --Shak.

  3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered a settled establishment or institution. [R.]

    Spain had no other wars save those which were grown into an ordinary.
    --Bacon.

  4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.

    Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and other ordinaries.
    --Sir W. Scott.

  5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction from one where each dish is separately charged; a table d'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a dining room.
    --Shak.

    All the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.
    --Swift.

    He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries.
    --Bancroft.

  6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or ten which are in constant use. The bend, chevron, chief, cross, fesse, pale, and saltire are uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include bar, bend sinister, pile, and others. See Subordinary. In ordinary.

    1. In actual and constant service; statedly attending and serving; as, a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a foreign court.

    2. (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a naval vessel.

      Ordinary of the Mass (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass which is the same every day; -- called also the canon of the Mass.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
bend

Old English bendan "to bend a bow; confine with a string, fetter," causative of bindan "to bind," from Proto-Germanic base *band- "string, band" (cognates: Old Norse benda "to join, strain, strive, bend"), from PIE root *bhendh- "to bind" (cognates: Gothic bindan, Old High German bintan, Sanskrit badhnati "binds," Lithuanian bendras "partner;" Old Persian bandaka- "subject").\n

\nModern sense (early 14c.) is via notion of bending a bow to string it. Cognate with band, bind, and bond. Related: Bended; bent; bending.

bend

"a bending or curving," 1590s; "thing of bent shape," c.1600, from bend (v.). Earlier "act of drawing a bow" (mid-15c.). The bends "decompression pain" first attested 1894.

bend

"broad diagonal band in a coat-of-arms, etc.," c.1400, from earlier sense of "thin, flat strap for wrapping round," from Old English bend "fetter, shackle, chain," from PIE *bhendh- (see bend (v.)).

Wiktionary
bend

n. A curve. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means. 2 (context intransitive English) To become curved. 3 (context transitive English) To cause to change direction. 4 (context intransitive English) To change direction. 5 (context intransitive English) To be inclined; to direct itself. 6 (context intransitive usually with "down" English) To stoop. 7 (context intransitive English) To bow in prayer, or in token of submission. 8 (context transitive English) To force to submit. 9 (context intransitive English) To submit. 10 (context transitive English) To apply to a task or purpose. 11 (context intransitive English) To apply oneself to a task or purpose. 12 (context transitive English) To adapt or interpret to for a purpose or beneficiary. 13 (context transitive nautical English) To tie, as in securing a line to a cleat; to shackle a chain to an anchor; make fast. 14 (context transitive music English) To smoothly change the pitch of a note. 15 (context intransitive nautical English) To swing the body when rowing.

WordNet
bend
  1. n. a circular segment of a curve; "a bend in the road"; "a crook in the path" [syn: crook, turn]

  2. movement that causes the formation of a curve [syn: bending]

  3. curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.) [syn: curve]

  4. an angular or rounded shape made by folding; "a fold in the napkin"; "a crease in his trousers"; "a plication on her blouse"; "a flexure of the colon"; "a bend of his elbow" [syn: fold, crease, plication, flexure, crimp]

  5. a town in central Oregon at the eastern foot of the Cascade Range

  6. diagonal line traversing a shield from the upper right corner to the lower left [syn: bend dexter]

  7. [also: bent]

bend
  1. v. form a curve; "The stick does not bend" [syn: flex] [ant: straighten]

  2. change direction; "The road bends"

  3. cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form; "bend the rod"; "twist the dough into a braid"; "the strong man could turn an iron bar" [syn: flex, deform, twist, turn] [ant: unbend]

  4. bend one's back forward from the waist on down; "he crouched down"; "She bowed before the Queen"; "The young man stooped to pick up the girl's purse" [syn: crouch, stoop, bow]

  5. turn from a straight course , fixed direction, or line of interest [syn: deflect, turn away]

  6. bend a joint; "flex your wrists"; "bend your knees" [syn: flex]

  7. [also: bent]

Gazetteer
Bend, OR -- U.S. city in Oregon
Population (2000): 52029
Housing Units (2000): 22507
Land area (2000): 32.021921 sq. miles (82.936392 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.216276 sq. miles (0.560152 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 32.238197 sq. miles (83.496544 sq. km)
FIPS code: 05800
Located within: Oregon (OR), FIPS 41
Location: 44.056434 N, 121.308085 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 97701 97702
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Bend, OR
Bend
Wikipedia
Bend

Bend may refer to:

Bend (album)

Bend is the third studio album from the American Hard rock band 8stops7 and the follow up to their previous, and most successful release, In Moderation.

Bend (The Origin album)

Bend is the second and final album by the band The Origin, released in 1992. The lead single, "Bonfires Burning", charted at number 17 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks.

Bend (heraldry)

In heraldry, a bend is a band or strap running from the upper dexter (the bearer's right side and the viewer's left) corner of the shield to the lower sinister (the bearer's left side, and the viewer's right). Authorities differ as to how much of the field it should cover, ranging from one-fifth (if shown between other charges) up to one-third (if charged alone). The supposed rule that a bend should occupy a maximum of one-third of the field appears to exclude the possibility of two or three bends being shown together, but contrary examples exist. Outside of heraldry, the term "bend (or bar) sinister" is sometimes used to imply ancestral illegitimacy.

Bend (song)

"Bend" is a song by Australian musician Chet Faker. It was released as a digital single in Australia on 19 June 2015 through Future Classic.

Faker announced a new Australian tour and premiered the song on the Matt and Alex show on Triple J on June 17. During the interview Faker said the song was intended to be on his debut album Built on Glass, but was ultimately replaced by "To Me". Faker said, "Ever since it got cut from the album it's just been sitting on my iTunes, sitting there looking at me. Usually when I cut a song after a few months I'm like 'yeah cool, that song's dead' but it's been annoying me... [so] it was either never going to be put out, or now, with this tour." "I recorded it in 2013 and kinda wanted to put it out since. It's always felt like a part of Built on Glass and since [the upcoming Australian] tour is the sort of live 'director's cut' of the album it made sense to release this before it lost context."

Usage examples of "bend".

Once inside the ablutions one of the interrogators pulled his underpants down around his ankles and ordered him to step out of them and bend over.

As it was, the spray drenched everyone aboard, causing them to bend their backs that much harder, long before Dunlop screamed at them to do so.

Up till now, to his own surprise, all three of his fellow absconders had acted as if he were still one of them, in equal peril from outsiders-or settlers, like the Meldrums-and therefore bent, as they were, on escape.

Lark was flooded with relief when she rounded a bend in the trail and saw Ace Brandon climbing toward her.

The most they can manage is a sort of diagonal slouch: feet on the floor, necks bent up against the bulkhead, Acton cradling her like a living hammock.

Caderousse, waving his hand in token of adieu to Danglars, and bending his steps towards the Allees de Meillan, moving his head to and fro, and muttering as he went, after the manner of one whose mind was overcharged with one absorbing idea.

Again it is the tip, as stated by Ciesielski, though denied by others, which is sensitive to the attraction of gravity, and by transmission causes the adjoining parts of the radicle to bend towards the centre of the earth.

This difference in the results is interesting, for it shows that too strong an irritant does not induce any transmitted effect, and does not cause the adjoining, upper and growing part of the radicle to bend.

It appears, therefore, at first sight that greasing the tips of these radicles had checked but little their bending to the adjoining damp surface.

Here it obviously is not the mere touch, but the effect produced by the caustic, which induces the tip to transmit some influence to the adjoining part, causing it to bend away.

When therefore a new tip is reformed on an oblique stump, it probably is developed sooner on one side than on the other: and this in some manner excites the adjoining part to bend to one side.

We have also seen that the destruction of the tip does not prevent the adjoining part from bending, if this part has already received some influence from the tip.

As with horizontally extended radicles, of which the tip has been cut off or destroyed, the part which ought to bend most remains motionless for many hours or days, although exposed at right angles to the full influence of geotropism, we must conclude that the tip alone is sensitive to this power, and transmits some influence or stimulus to the adjoining parts, causing them to bend.

It was ascertained in several cases that this sensitiveness resides in the tip, which transmits an influence causing the adjoining upper part to bend in opposition to geotropism towards the moist object.

Normally the adjudication committee would have refused to allow them to withdraw, but I requested they bend the Rules on this one occasion.