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bent

verb
/bɛnt/UK

Etymology

From Middle English bent-, preterite stem (as in bente, benten, etc.), and Middle English bent, ibent, ybent, past participle forms of Middle English benden (“to bend”). Equivalent to bend + -t.

  1. inherited from *binut✻ — “reed, rush”
  2. inherited from *beonot✻
  3. inherited from bent

Definitions

  1. simple past and past participle of bend

  2. Folded or dented out of its usual shape.

  3. Corrupt, dishonest.

  4. ›+ 19 more definitions

    1. Homosexual.

      • Asked bluntly by Julie Webb of the NME whether he was “bent” in December 1974, Freddie answered evasively: “You're a crafty cow. […]”

    2. Determined or insistent

      Determined or insistent; inclined, set.

      • He was bent on going to Texas, but not even he could say why.
      • They were bent on mischief.

    3. Annoyed

      Annoyed; out of sorts; having a bee in one's bonnet.

      • Near-synonym: butthurt
      • She was bent about "certain kinds of people" having civil rights; she wanted to roll those back.

    4. leading a life of crime.

    5. Inaccurately aimed.

      • That shot was so bent it left the pitch.

    6. Suffering from the bends.

    7. High from both marijuana and alcohol.

      • Man, I am so bent right now!

    8. An inclination or talent.

      • He had a natural bent for painting.
      • the top of one's bent
      • They fool me to the top of my bent.

    9. A predisposition to act or react in a particular way.

      • His mind was of a technical bent.

    10. The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line

      The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity.

      • the bent of a bow
      • the force they have in the discharge , according to several bents

    11. A declivity or slope, as of a hill.

      • Beneath the lowering brow, and on a bent, / The temple stood of Mars armipotent

    12. Particular direction or tendency

      Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.

      • bents and turns of the matter

    13. A transverse frame of a framed structure

      A transverse frame of a framed structure; a subunit of framing.

    14. Tension

      Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.

      • the full bent and stress of the soul

    15. Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.

      • His spear a bent, both stiff and strong.
      • Gunga Dass gave me a double handful of dried bents which I thrust down the mouth of the lair to the right of his, and followed myself, feet foremost [...].
      • Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent.

    16. Bentgrass (Agrostis spp.).

    17. A grassy area, grassland.

      • c. 1500, The Ballad of Chevy Chase Bowmen bickered upon the bent.

    18. Old dried stalks of grasses.

    19. A surname

The neighborhood

Derived

bent as a butcher's hook, bent as a nine-bob note, bent as a two bob, bentbill, bent car, bent copper, bent edge, bent fork, bent function, bent grass, Bentley, bentness, bent on, bent on a splice, bent-side, Bent Spear, bentwood, bowbent, downbent, get bent, get bent out of shape, hellbent, hyperbent, inbent, nick-bent, prebent, semibent, time-bent, at the top of one's bent, to the top of one's bent, brown bent, colonial bent, common bent, creeping bent, rough bent

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at bent. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01bent02folded03folds04fold05bend06curved07curving08curve09straight

A definitional loop anchored at bent. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at bent

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA