bend

To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means.

If you bend the pipe too far, it will break.

Don’t bend your knees.

To become curved.

Look at the trees bending in the wind.

To cause to change direction.

Bend thine ear to supplication.

Towards Coventry bend we our course.

To change direction.

The road bends to the right.

To be inclined; to direct itself.

to whom our vows and wishes bend

A curve.

There's a sharp bend in the road ahead.

I hear the train a comin'/It's rolling round the bend

Any of the various knots which join the ends of two lines.

A simpler version of the common bend with its ends in the same direction is used to join binder twine in a hay baling machine.

A severe condition caused by excessively quick decompression, causing bubbles of nitrogen to form in the blood; decompression sickness.

A diver who stays deep for too long must ascend very slowly in order to prevent the bends.

One of the honourable ordinaries formed by two diagonal lines drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base; it generally occupies a fifth part of the shield if uncharged, but if charged one third.

Perhaps the most celebrated coat of arms is that of Scrope, which is Azure a bend Or. This is the coat over which, from 1385 to 1390, Sir Robert le Grosvenor and Sir Richard le Scrope invoked the High Court of Chivalry to decide which of them had the right to bear these arms. Chaucer gave evidence before the court. In the end the arms were awarded to Scrope, and Grosvenor was ordered to difference with a bordure Argent. This he disdained to do, and being highly dissatisfied with the verdict he appealed to Richard II who altered the decision of the court by refusing to allow the bend to Grosvenor at all! Grosvenor then adopted a garb, or sheaf of corn.

Turn; purpose; inclination; ends.

Farewell, poor swain; thou art not for my bend.

A ghost town and former railway community in central British Columbia, Canada. Named after a 90-degree curve in the railway line.

A census-designated place in Tehama County, California, United States.

An unincorporated community in Maries County, Missouri, United States.

A city, the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States.

Many locals thought doing so contradicted the democratic spirit of skiing, where strangers sharing a lift chair might include both billionaires with second homes in Bend and ski bums living in vans.

An unincorporated community in Meade County, South Dakota, United States.