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Bent   /bɛnt/   Listen
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."


Bent  v.  Imp. & p. p. of Bend.


adjective
Bent  adj., past part.  
1.
Changed by pressure so as to be no longer straight; crooked; as, a bent pin; a bent lever.
2.
Strongly inclined toward something, so as to be resolved, determined, set, etc.; said of the mind, character, disposition, desires, etc., and used with on; as, to be bent on going to college; he is bent on mischief.


noun
Bent  n.  
1.
The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity; as, the bent of a bow. (Obs.)
2.
A declivity or slope, as of a hill. (R.)
3.
A leaning or bias; proclivity; tendency of mind; inclination; disposition; purpose; aim. "With a native bent did good pursue."
4.
Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course. "Bents and turns of the matter."
5.
(Carp.) A transverse frame of a framed structure.
6.
Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus. (Archaic) "The full bent and stress of the soul."
Synonyms: Predilection; turn. Bent, Bias, Inclination, Prepossession. These words agree in describing a permanent influence upon the mind which tends to decide its actions. Bent denotes a fixed tendency of the mind in a given direction. It is the widest of these terms, and applies to the will, the intellect, and the affections, taken conjointly; as, the whole bent of his character was toward evil practices. Bias is literally a weight fixed on one side of a ball used in bowling, and causing it to swerve from a straight course. Used figuratively, bias applies particularly to the judgment, and denotes something which acts with a permanent force on the character through that faculty; as, the bias of early education, early habits, etc. Inclination is an excited state of desire or appetency; as, a strong inclination to the study of the law. Prepossession is a mingled state of feeling and opinion in respect to some person or subject, which has laid hold of and occupied the mind previous to inquiry. The word is commonly used in a good sense, an unfavorable impression of this kind being denominated a prejudice. "Strong minds will be strongly bent, and usually labor under a strong bias; but there is no mind so weak and powerless as not to have its inclinations, and none so guarded as to be without its prepossessions."


Bent  n.  
1.
A reedlike grass; a stalk of stiff, coarse grass. "His spear a bent, both stiff and strong."
2.
(Bot.) A grass of the genus Agrostis, esp. Agrostis vulgaris, or redtop. The name is also used of many other grasses, esp. in America.
3.
Any neglected field or broken ground; a common; a moor. (Obs.) "Bowmen bickered upon the bent."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Bent" Quotes from Famous Books



... too large, as may be readily understood, though it did not seem at a casual glance that the members had become deformed. The hands were dry and angular, but the nails, although a little bent inward toward the root, had preserved all their freshness. The only very noticeable change was the excessive depression of the abdominal walls, which seemed crowded downward to the posterior side; at the right, ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1 • Charles Dudley Warner
... against the lurching, and he found a relief in the roar as the great train swept across a foaming river. They had been detained at a junction during the afternoon, and the engineer was evidently bent on making ...
— The Long Portage • Harold Bindloss
... the question of his admissibility to the charge had hung all that while between the Walloon Synods of the United Provinces and the French Protestant Church Courts, the latter on the whole favouring him, the former more and more bent on disgracing him. In April of the present year a Walloon Synod at Tergou had actually passed on him a sentence of suspension from the ministerial office and from the holy communion "until by a sincere repentance of his sins he shall have repaired so many scandals ...
— The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 • David Masson
... the most elementary precautions, and unconsciously assumed false generalisations. Even now most young students would, if left to themselves, fall into the old errors. For criticism is antagonistic to the normal bent of the mind. The spontaneous tendency of man is to yield assent to affirmations, and to reproduce them, without even clearly distinguishing them from the results of his own observation. In every-day life do we not accept indiscriminately, without any kind of verification, ...
— Introduction to the Study of History • Charles V. Langlois
... bare ground and mount to the clouds. As it came nearer, and the figures became more discernible, it was seen that the caravan was headed by a band of armed horsemen. The animals were jaded and fatigued, and walked with their heads low down and their knees bent out of shape and form. Their riders seemed as exhausted as the animals themselves, and they carried their dust-begrimed guns in anything but military fashion. Behind them came hundreds, nay, thousands, of wagons, of all shapes and builds, ...
— My Native Land • James Cox


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