BENDING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Bending

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/bˈɛndɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Bending n. The marking of the clothes with stripes or horizontal bands. (Obs.)

verb

Bend v. t. (past & past part. bent; pres. part. bending)

1.

To strain or move out of a straight line; to crook by straining; to make crooked; to curve; to make ready for use by drawing into a curve; as, to bend a bow; to bend the knee.

2.

To turn toward some certain point; to direct; to incline. "Bend thine ear to supplication." "Towards Coventry bend we our course." "Bending her eyes... upon her parent."

3.

To apply closely or with interest; to direct. "To bend his mind to any public business." "But when to mischief mortals bend their will."

4.

To cause to yield; to render submissive; to subdue. "Except she bend her humor."

5.

(Naut.) To fasten, as one rope to another, or as a sail to its yard or stay; or as a cable to the ring of an anchor.

To bend the brow, to knit the brow, as in deep thought or in anger; to scowl; to frown.

Synonyms: To lean; stoop; deflect; bow; yield.

Bend v. i. (past & past part. bent; pres. part. bending)

1.

To be moved or strained out of a straight line; to crook or be curving; to bow. "The green earth's end Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend."

2.

To jut over; to overhang. "There is a cliff, whose high and bending head Looks fearfully in the confined deep."

3.

To be inclined; to be directed. "To whom our vows and wished bend."

4.

To bow in prayer, or in token of submission. "While each to his great Father bends."

See images of 'Bending'

Etymology of 'Bending'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Bending" Quotes from Famous Books

... suggestive lines. She seems to shine out of her clothes a lustrous, shimmering figure, female rather than feminine, and gorgeous rather than lovely. Margaret Fenn is in full bloom; not a drooping petal, not a bending stamen, not a wilted calyx or bruised leaf may be seen about her. She is a perfect flower whose whole being—like that of a flower at its full—seems eager, thrilling, burning with anticipation ...

— In the Heart of a Fool • William Allen White

... Even her features take on a different and unique expression before the offspring of her womb. Never is she more womanly, never so strong, never so quite, never so self-contained, never so completely herself, and never so beautify when bending over her helpless infant son. And naturally: for ...

— Hints for Lovers • Arnold Haultain

... bear a sceptre or a sledgehammer, art thou not ALIVE; is not this thy brother ALIVE? "There is but one temple in the world," says Novalis, "and that temple is the Body of Man. Nothing is holier than this high Form. Bending before men is a reverence done to this Revelation in the Flesh. We touch Heaven, when we lay our hands on ...

— Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History • Thomas Carlyle

... half-clothed, for they knew the summons admitted of no delay. In an instant they were flying aloft. A heavy squall had struck the ship, and she was heeling over, her masts bending like willow wands and threatening to go every instant. The sheets were let fly, but before the sails could be furled there came a crash, and the fore-topmast with its yard, to which several of the crew ...

— The History of Little Peter, the Ship Boy • W.H.G. Kingston

... a deep, dreamless sleep. A white face was bending over her—Steenie's—whiter than ever Kirsty had seen it. He was panting, and his eyes were ...

— Heather and Snow • George MacDonald

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