Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEND, v.t. [pret. bended or bent; pp. bended or bent. Sax. bendan, to bend; Fr. bander, to bend, bind or tie; Ger. binden, to wind, bind or tie; D. binden, the same; Sw. banda, to bind; Dan. binder, to bind; L. pando, pandare, to bend in; pando, pandere, to open; pandus, bent, crooked; It. banda, sidewise; benda, a fillet or band; bendare, to crown; Sp. pandear, to bend or be inclined, to bulge out, to belly; pandeo, a bulge or protuberance; pando, jutting out. The primary sense is, to stretch or strain. Bend and bind are radically the same word.]

1. To strain, or to crook by straining; as, to bend a bow.
2. To crook; to make crooked; to curve; to inflect; as, to bend the arm.
3. To direct to a certain point; as, to bend our steps or course to a particular place.
4. To exert; to apply closely; to exercise laboriously; to intend or stretch; as, to bend the mind to study.
5. To prepare or put in order for use; to stretch or strain. He hath bent his bow and made it ready. – Ps. vii.
6. To incline; to be determined; that is, to stretch toward, or cause to tend; as, to be bent on mischief. It expresses disposition or purpose.
7. To subdue; to cause to yield; to make submissive; as, to bend a man to our will.
8. In seamanship, to fasten, as one rope to another or to an anchor; to fasten, as a sail to its yard or stay; to fasten, as a cable to the ring of an anchor. – Mar. Dict.
9. To bend the brow, is to knit the brow; to scowl; to frown – Camden.