bend
verb /bend/
/bend/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they bend | /bend/ /bend/ |
| he / she / it bends | /bendz/ /bendz/ |
| past simple bent | /bent/ /bent/ |
| past participle bent | /bent/ /bent/ |
| -ing form bending | /ˈbendɪŋ/ /ˈbendɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] (especially of somebody’s body or head) to lean, or make something lean, in a particular direction
- He bent and kissed her.
- The doctor told me to avoid bending and stretching.
- + adv./prep. fields of poppies bending in the wind
- She suddenly bent over, clutching her stomach.
- His dark head bent over her.
- She bent forward to pick up the newspaper.
- Slowly bend from the waist and bring your head down to your knees.
- Keep your feet apart, and bend at the waist
- bend something He bent his head and kissed her.
- bend something + adv./prep. She bent her head towards him.
- She was bent over her desk writing a letter.
Extra Examples- He came closer and bent towards her.
- I bent down and tied my shoelace.
- I had to bend double to get under the table.
- Sarah bent close to him.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- slightly
- quickly
- swiftly
- …
- at
- towards/toward
- [transitive, intransitive] if you bend your arm, leg, etc. or if it bends, you move it so that it is no longer straight
- bend something Bend your knees, keeping your back straight.
- Lie flat and let your knees bend.
- [transitive] bend something to force something that was straight into an angle or a curve
- Mark the pipe where you want to bend it.
- The knives were bent out of shape.
- He bent the wire into the shape of a square.
- [intransitive, transitive] to change direction to form a curve or an angle; to make something change direction in this way
- The road bent sharply to the right.
- bend something Glass and water both bend light.
Word OriginOld English bendan ‘put in bonds, tension a bow by means of a string’, of Germanic origin; related to band ‘strip of material’.
Idioms
bend somebody’s ear (about something)
- (informal) to talk to somebody a lot about something, especially about a problem that you have
bend your mind/efforts to something
- (formal) to think very hard about or put a lot of effort into one particular thing
- She bent her mind to the problem of escape.
bend/lean over backwards (to do something)
- to make a great effort, especially in order to be helpful or fair
- I've bent over backwards to help him.
bend/stretch the rules
- to change the rules to suit a particular person or situation
- Couldn't they just bend the rules and let us in without a ticket?
bend the truth
- to say something that is not completely true
- I wasn’t exactly lying when I said I hadn’t seen her—I was just bending the truth a little.
on bended knee(s)
- if you ask for something on bended knee(s), you ask for it in a very anxious and/or humble way (= showing you think you are less important than the person you are asking)
- I’d go down on bended knee if I thought she’d change her mind.