▪ I. bent, n.1
(bɛnt)
Also bennet.
[A word of difficult history. In the sense of ‘stiff-grass’ or ‘grass-stalk’ (in which alone the variant bennet occurs), it appears to be the representative of OE. beonet-, found as a frequent element in proper names, as Beonet-léah Bentley (see Index to Cod. Dipl. ævi Saxon.). These names do not show the meaning; but beonet:—earlier *binut (with eo as u- umlaut of i), in OS. binet (Schade), is phonetically identical with OHG. binuȥ, MHG. bineȥ, binȥ (str. masc.), mod.G. binse ‘rush, reed, stout grass growing in wet places’:—WGer. *binut, of unknown etymology. But distinct instances of this sense are not found before the 15th c., while the sense of ‘grassy field or surface’ is common in northern writers from the earliest appearance of northern literature. Whether this is the same word is uncertain: it is possible enough that the pl. bents was used for a place where ‘bents’ grew (cf. local names like Totley Bents near Sheffield) and that this led to the use of the sing. bent as ‘open grassy place.’ They are here united provisionally.]
I. 1. A name given to grass of a reedy or rush-like habit, or which has persistent stiff or rigid stems; also to various grass-like reeds, rushes, sedges, and other plants.
Britten and Holland Plant-n. give a long list of grasses and other plants, to which the name, either simply or with attribute, is locally applied: by the seashore it very generally means the Sea Reed Grass, Psamma or Ammophila arenaria, but also Carex arenaria, Elymus arenaria, Triticum junceum, according to locality; on northern moorlands often Juncus squarrosus, but also Nardus stricta, etc.; in some pastoral and hay districts Cynosurus cristatus (‘Hendon Bent’), Agrostis vulgaris; in other localities, Phalaris arundinacea, Scirpas lacustris, or other marsh-grasses, bulrushes, reeds, or sedges: in Chester and Wiltshire, the name is even given to the common heath and ling, perhaps because they grow on bents: cf. ‘heath.’
a. sing. ‘bent’; pl. ‘bents’.
| c 1425 in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 644 Hoc gramen, a bent. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health ccxcix. 98 b, Use no olde Ryshes nor Bentes in the house. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 216 Rushes or bents. 1625 Bacon Gardens, Ess. (Arb.) 558 The dust of a Bent. 1783 Cowper Task v. 22 The bents, And coarser grass, upspearing o'er the rest. 1834 Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 293 The nest is formed of bents, or other plants growing near the sea. a 1847 Mrs. Sherwood Visit Grandpapa 21 His foot caught in a bent, and he fell. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. IV. 61 The bents and sedges where the ox could not feed were excluded from the ox gang. [cf. sense 5.] |
b. collectively. Cf. grass.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 66 Bent, smal rushes, iuncus. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 366 He..couered him with a great deal of Reed and Bent. 1778 Lightfoot Fl. Scot. I. 107 Arundo arenaria, Sea Reed-Grass, Anglis. Bent, Scotis. Muran, Gaulis. 1791 T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scot. 152 It had been the custom to pull up the bent, a long spiry grass, near the shore. 1795 Burke Th. on Scarcity Wks. VII. 406 The rye-grass, or coarse bent, suffered more than the clover. 1848 W. Gardiner Flora Forfar. 194 It [Ammophila arundina] is termed Bent, and..is valuable in binding the loose sand. 1882 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. iii. 463 There is a considerable ascent over ground rough with bent (Nardus stricta). |
† c. in pl. A bundle of reed-grass. Obs.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal i. iii. (1633) 6, I take this last to be the grasse with which we in London do usually adorn our chimneys..: and we commonly call the bundle of it handsomely made up for our use by the name of Bents. |
2. The stiff flower-stalk of grasses. (In this sense bennet prevails in the southern counties.)
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 45 The time of cutting of it [grass] is when the Bent beginneth to fade and waxe stiffe, and before it wither. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 273 It hath certain little husks or cods hanging by small bents. 1752 Lisle Husb. 308 The grass will not grow afresh, unless the dying bennets be cut off. (Gloss.) Bennets, bents, Spiry grass running to seed. 1881 Jefferies Wood Magic 1 Then he drew forth a bennet from its sheath. |
b. ‘Applied usually to the old stalks of various grasses.’ Britten and Holland.
| 1827 Keble Chr. Y. 20 Sund. Trin. ii, Through withered bents. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. ii. vii. 7 Mow the dry bents down. 1866 Treas. Bot. 135 Bents, a common country name for the dried stalks or culms of various grasses occurring in pastures. |
c. The stalks and seeding heads of two species of Plantain (Plantago major and lanceolata); in East Yorkshire, the dry stalks of Hypochæris radicata. Britten and Holland.
| 1612 Chapman Widows T. in Dodsley VI. 192 As a mower sweeps off the heads of bents. 1655 Mouffet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 173 [Birds] that feed upon good Corn, Bents, or wholesome Seeds. |
3. In English Botany, the name of the genus Agrostis. More fully bent-grass: see III.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 186 Many species of Bent (Agrostis), particularly the Rhode Island Bent (Agrostis interrupta). 1838 Loudon Encycl. Plants s.v. Agrostis, A. vulgaris..is the most common and earliest of the bents. |
4. star or stool bent, Juncus squarrosus, Psamma arenaria; sweet bent, Luzula campestris; way bent, Hordeum murinum; white, or wire bent, Nardus stricta.
| 1597 Gerard Herball (1633) 73 Wilde barley, called..after old English writers, Way Bennet. 1620 Markham Farew. Husb. ii. xix. (1668) 103 These mats should rather be made of dry white bents, then of flags and bulrush. |
II. 5. A place covered with grass, as opposed to a wood; a bare field, a grassy plain, unenclosed pasture-land, a heath. Of northern origin. In ME. the stock poetic word for ‘the field’ (of battle), L. campus, due partly at least to its alliteration with battle, bicker, bide, brush, busk, bleed, bold, bale, etc. Used by some modern poets.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1675 As best, byte on þe bent of braken & erbes. c 1360 Song of Merci in E.E.P. (1862) 118 Lyouns raumpyng vppon bente. c 1400 Destr. Troy iv. 1192 Bothe batels on bent brusshet to-gedur. 1420 Siege Rouen in Archæol. XXI. 51 Buschys, brerys, and bowys they brent, They made hyt bare as evyr was bent. a 1500 Chevy Chase 11 Bomen byckarte vppone the bent with ther browd Aros cleare. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 152 Thre litill battellis buskit on the bent. a 1552 Leland Brit. Coll. I. 232 They mette at a bent by Bourne at a bridge ende a litle from Ludlow. 1552 Lyndesay Dreme 919 We saw a boustius berne cum ouir ye bent. 1664 Floddan F. ix. 84 [Three lords] Upon the bent did breathlesse bide. 1808 Scott Marm. ix. xxv, Since Marmion saw that martial scene Upon the bent so brown. 1858 Kingsley Ode N.E. Wind 32 On by holt and headland, Over heath and bent. |
b. to flee, go, take to the bent: to escape to the moors or the open country, e.g. to avoid danger, creditors, etc.
| c 1450 Henryson Lyon & Mous xxxv, And he start up annone, And thankit them; syn to the Bent is gane. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii, Wi' gloomin' brow, the laird seeks in his rent; It's no to gie; your merchant's to the bent. 1818 Scott Rob Roy II. 259 Take the bent, Mr. Rashleigh. Make ae pair o' legs worth twa pair o' hands. |
6. ? A hill-side, rising ground, slope, brae. (Perhaps because these were the localities naturally left in permanent pasture; but the sense is doubtful. Only in southern writers. (Cf. next word.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1123 And downward on an hil under a bent, Ther stood the tempul of Marz armypotent. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degree 65 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 25 In to that arber wolde he go, And vnder a bente he layde hym lowe. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xx. ix. 365 To the left wing, spred vnderneath the bent Of the steepe hill. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 320 Worn out, he fell beneath a woody bent. 1876 ― Sigurd i. 19 They came to the topmost of a certain grassy bent. |
III. Comb. chiefly attrib., as bent-mat, bent-rope, bent-stalk. Also bent-grass = bent (sense 1), esp. in Eng. Bot. the genus Agrostis; bent-land, land covered with stiff grass, reeds, etc.; bent-star [ON. störr, gen. starar, Sw. starr ‘bent-grass, carex’], the Sea Bent or Sea Reed Grass (Psamma arenaria): cf. sense 4.
| 1778 Lightfoot Fl. Scot. I. 93 Agrostis canina, Brown *Bent-grass. |
| 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 458 Tufts of the *bent-grass (Arundo arenaria, common here, as in all sandy wastes). |
| 1884 Weekly Times 19 Sept. 5/2 Planting *bent grass along the sea-shore to check the drifting by the Sands. |
| 1883 Birmingh. Weekly Post 1/5 A ‘Golf Club’ which..wields its clubs on the sandy *bentlands near Bawdsey Ferry, close by. |
| 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. vii. (1668) 163 *Bent Mats, where one bent or straw is laid by another, and so woven together with a good strong pack-thread. |
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 144 Slender *bent-stalks topt with feathery down. |
| 1822 J. Platts Bk. Curios. 523 Known to the Highlanders by the name of muran, and to the English by that of *bent-star. |
▪ II. bent, n.2
(bɛnt)
Also 6 bente.
[f. bend v.; probably on analogy of words from L. or Fr.: cf. descend, descent, extend, extent; F. pendre, pente, rendre, rente. There appears to be no sufficient analogy for its formation from the past pple.]
1. A curved position or form; curvature, bending degree of curvature. Also fig. (Now rare.)
| 1541 Elyot Image Govt. (1549) 100 For the Theatre was a place made in the fourme of a bowe, that hath a great bente. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. v. 49, I find the Bend drawne somewhat Archwise or after the resemblance of the Bent of a Bow. 1755 Borlase in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 375, I attribute it to..the bent of the western land. 1860 Heads & Hats 20 With trifling modification of brim and bent and height of crown, we retain the thing [hat] in all its offensive characteristics! |
† 2. A curved part, a bend, a crook. Obs.
| 1572 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1627) 271 Hard vnto the bent of the staple. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 313 Overthwart the bent of the [horse's] knee. 1653 Walton Angler 111 Make these fast at the bent of the hook. |
† 3. A piece bent into a curve; a bow. Obs.
| 1521 Will Pylbarowgh (Somerset Ho.), Gown whiche I ware every daye with a bent of velvett to the skyrte. 1588 W. Averell Combat Contrar. B, Their bents of Whale bone to beare out their bummes. 1607 Middleton Michaelm. Term i. ii. Wires and tires, bents and bums, felts and falls. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 84 Clay thus pretily dispersed in the form of a bent. |
† 4. Flexure, bending, crooking. Obs.
| 1567 Triall Treas. (1850), It is I that doe guyde the bent of your bowe. 1590 Greene Arcad. (1616) 57 With reuerence and lowly bent of knee. 1642 Rogers Naaman To Rdr. §2 Rather then she will come to the bent of Gods bow. |
† 5. Inclination, bowing, stooping, nodding. Obs.
| 1584 T. Lodge Forb. & Prisc. 22 b, With..a seemely bent, as requiting his curtesie. 1596 Chapman Iliad ii. 95 To vow, and bind it with the bent Of his high forehead. 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 231 In vain the shrubs, with lowly bent, Sought their Destruction to prevent. |
6. a. The condition of being deflected, inclined, or turned in some direction; a turn, twist, inclination; direction given by bending; cast (of the eye), etc. Usually fig.
| 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1206/1 For a little coumfort, is bent ynough therto for them. a 1600 Hooker (J.) The wilful bent of their obstinate hearts against it. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 210, I can giue his humour the true bent. 1611 ― Cymb. i. i. 13 They weare their faces to the bent Of the Kings lookes. 1664 J. Nalton in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxvii. 10 The bent of it [a magnet] will be toward the North Pole. a 1700 Dryden (J.) My reason took the bent of thy command. a 1704 Locke (J.) The exercising the understanding..teacheth the mind suppleness, to apply itself more dexterously to bents and turns of the matter, in all its researches. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 15 ¶1 To cross the bent of a young lady's genius. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 328 To follow the bent of her own taste. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 281 To counteract wholly the bent of natural character. |
b. esp. Mental inclination or tendency; disposition; propensity, bias. The usual modern sense.
| 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinsh. II. 155/1 He saw the bent and disposition of the earle. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iv. §2 The whole inclination and bent of those times. 1692 South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 429 Bents, and Propensities, and Inclinations, will not do the Business. 1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 83 He knew he did not like to be a carpenter, but had not discovered his own bent. 1840 Arnold in Life & Corr. (1844) II. ix. 200 If your bent seems to be to the work of a Missionary. |
c. † Phrase. to bring any one to, or have him at, one's bent. Obs.
| 1575 Turberv. Venerie 136 Such toyles and toyes as hunters use to bring me to their bents. 1658 Bramhall Consecr. Bps. iii. 59 That by this meanes they should..bring the Queene to their bent. 1660 C. Bonde Scut. Reg. 286 They would have had the King buckled to their bent. |
d. Tendency of motion, course, ‘set’ of a current.
| 1648 Milton Tenure Kings 39 The whole bent of their actions was against the King. 1817 Wordsw. Lament Mary Q. Scots, A sister Queen, against the bent Of law and holiest sympathy, Detains me. 1855 M. Arnold Sonn. Cruikshank, Man can control To pain, to death, the bent of his own days. |
† 7. That towards which an action, etc. is directed; aim, purpose, intention. Obs.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Ded., For, not marking the compasse of his bent, he will iudge of the length of his cast. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits x. (1596) 141 The Oratour..it behooueth..to vse rules..to the end the hearers may not smell out his fetch and bent. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1817) III. 297 The principal bent of this work. |
† 8. Force with which a bow bent or a spring wound up tends to spring back; hence, impetus, concentrated energy. F. élan. Obs.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 454 He rusheth upon Haddon with all the bent of his Eloquence. 1690 Norris Beatitudes I. 107 Such a Desire as carries in it the full bent and stress of the Soul. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 796 False joys, indeed, are born from want of thought; From thought's full bent, and energy, the true. |
9. Extent to which a bow may be bent or a spring wound up, degree of tension; hence degree of endurance, capacity for taking in or receiving; limit of capacity, etc. Now only in the Shaksperian phrase: to the top of one's bent, or the like.
| 1594 Drayton Idea 596 Beyond the bent of his unknowing Sight. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 401 They foole me to the top of my bent. 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. (1851) 1 Suffering to the lowest bent of weaknesse in the Flesh, and presently triumphing to the highest pitch of glory in the Spirit. 1871 Smiles Charac. vi. (1876) 178 He flattered French vanity to the top of its bent. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 238 When you have allowed me to add µηχανὴ (contrivance) to τέχνη (art) I shall be at the top of my bent. |
10. Technical uses, of various origin. Building, Carpentry, etc.: a section of a framework or framed building. (orig. U.S.).
| 1674 Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards 343 First, for cutting be sure of a good putt-card, they use the bent, the slick, and the breef; the bent is a card bended in play which you cut. 1815 Niles' Reg. IX. 200/2 On each of them [sc. the floats] were raised two bents or frames. Ibid., This made sixteen bents, on which the grand and enormous structure was raised. 1824 T. Hogg Carnation 23 Veins of rust or oxyde of iron..in soil..[are] called by farmers, till or fox bent. a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Bent, one section of the frame of a building, which is put together on the ground..and then raised. 1881 Greener Gun 245 A very old smooth file, worn almost to a burnisher, is used to finish the bents and bearings of the lock. Ibid. 263 The sear may then be lifted off, if the tumbler is not in bent. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 91 The cradle is composed of forty-three inverted bents, twelve feet apart. 1952 Archit. Rev. CXI. 179 At the top of the boom may be seen the steel cables, attached to the [timber] bent. |
¶ Bent of a hill occurs too early to belong to this word, but it was perhaps afterwards confused with it. See bent n.1 6.
▪ III. bent, ppl. a.
(bɛnt)
Also 6 bend(e
[f. bend v.]
1. a. Constrained into a curve, as a strung bow; curved, crooked, deflected from the straight line.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 575 The Bente Mone with her hornys pale. 1483 Cath. Angl. 28 Bent as a bowe, extensus. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §3 A bende pece of yren. 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 478 The particles of the bended body, whilst it is held bent. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 141 The two bones..constitute a bent and horizontal lever. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 402 That bent and weary Jew. |
b. bent brow: an arched eyebrow (obs.); a wrinkled or knit brow.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1074 A wel schape man was hee, With Browes bente & eȝen stoute. c 1400 Rom. Rose 861 Bent were hir browis two, Hir yen greye, & glad also. a 1641 Strafford Lett. I. 179 This bent and ill-favoured brow of mine. 1853 Lytton My Novel ii. vii, The sad gaze of the Parson, the bent brow of the Squire. |
c. Forming part of the name of various modifications of tools or apparatus which have the blade, or other part bent to adapt them to special purposes: as bent-gauge, bent-gouge, bent-graver, bent-rasp, which have a bent or curved blade; bent-lever, a lever of the first kind, whose arms form an angle with each other, as a bell-crank lever; bent-lever balance, a balance having a short bent arm bearing a scale, and a long weighted arm the leverage of which increases as it ascends, ending in an index pointing to divisions in a graduated arc.
d. In the names of articles, work, etc., in which the materials are bent to shape, as bent iron work, the making of ornamental ironwork as a home occupation, by bending strips of iron to form the various parts of the design; also, the ornamental ironwork thus made; bent-panel, one that is bent to shape instead of framed; in quot. attrib.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Bent-timber Manufacturer, a shaper of timber by steam and pressure. 1902 P. N. Hasluck (title) Bent Iron Work. 1909 Stratford-on-Avon Herald 7 May 4/3 For sale, excellent Bent-panel dog cart. |
† 2. Braced, nerved, or wound up for action; couched for a spring; levelled or aimed as a weapon. † sharp-bent: sharp-set, hungry. Obs.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1486 To dragouns ther layen y-bent. c 1500 Rob. Hood (Ritson) i. ii. 57 Robin howt with a swerd bent, A bokeler en hes honde [therto]. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. ii. v, Stood at the Castlesgate, now ready bent To sally out. 1675 Wycherley Country Wife v. (1735) 95 Ceremony and Expectation are unsufferable to those that are sharp bent; people always eat with the best stomach at an ordinary. |
† 3. Determined, resolute, devoted, inclined, set.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xxvi. 116 With bent myndes had conspired the death. 1571 R. Ascham Scholem. (1863) 87 The bent enemie against God and good order. 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 66 With a bent affection. 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. 2nd. Ded. ad. fin., My Lords and Gentlemen, Your most passionately-bent Fellow-Subject. 1740 L. Clarke Hist. Bible I. ix. 579 Being bent to have his revenge on the inhabitants of Ptolemais. |
4. Directed in a course, on one's way, bound.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 296 Nor must the Ploughman less observe the Skies..Than Saylors homeward bent. |
5. fig. (cf. crooked a. 3). In various slang uses: a. Dishonest, ‘crooked’, criminal. Also as n. orig. U.S. b. Illegal; stolen. orig. U.S. c. Of things: out of order, spoiled. Of persons: eccentric, perverted; spec. homosexual (also as n.). (In quot. 1958 ‘faithless’.)
| a. 1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 17 Bent, crooked; larcenous. Example: His kisser shows that he's bent. 1948 Sunday Pictorial 29 Aug. 6/5 A ‘bent screw’..a crooked warder who is prepared to traffic with a prisoner. 1958 Times 14 Feb. 3/5 What made the witness think the two officers were offering a bribe? Mitchell replied, ‘I had known for years that certain members of the Brighton police force were what we call bent.’ Ibid., There were plenty of ways in which bents could help. 1963 Ibid. 2 Feb. 9/6 Successful crime preventing does not make criminals give up; they simply change their methods, or as Mr. Brown said: ‘They stay bent but alter their tactics.’ |
| b. 1930 E. H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) iv. 39 For having sold a stolen or bent car to a complainant. 1955 P. Wildeblood Against Law 151 He had got a short sentence for receiving stolen goods, which he swore he had not known to be ‘bent’. |
| c. 1930 Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 1914–18 (ed. 2) 210 Bent, spoiled, ruined, e.g. ‘a good man bent’ or even ‘good tea bent’. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §143/4 Eccentric. Balmy, bats, bent, [etc.]. Ibid. §152/5 Insane; crazy... bent. 1956 I. Asimov 9 Tomorrows (1963) iii. 87 He's gone crazy... He was always a little bent. Now he's broken. 1957 Rawnsley & Wright Night Fighter v. 75 Whenever a set became unserviceable in the air the code word used to notify ground control was to say that the weapon was ‘bent’. 1957 A. Wilson Bit off Map 29 ‘I shouldn't think you did know any Teddy boys, but if you did, I know what they'd call you—a f— bent, see.’..Mr. Fleet..reddened with fury; his reputation as a womaniser was known to everyone. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights iii. 72 My bird's gone bent... She went case with some geezer now she's liveing [sic] with him. 1959 C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 64 No one..cares..if you're boy, or girl, or bent, or versatile, or what you are. 1960 F. Raphael Limits of Love i. v. 70 ‘Great thing about gay people...’ ‘Gay?’ Tessa said. ‘Bent, queer, you know. Homosexual.’ |
▸ slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). Intoxicated with alcohol or narcotics. Cf. bend v. 23, bender n. 5b.
| 1833 A. Greene Life Dr Duckworth II. 176 He was seldom downright drunk; but was often..confoundedly bent. 1927 New Republic 9 Mar. 71/2 The following is a partial list of words denoting drunkenness now in common use in the United States..bent. 1968 N. C. Heard Howard St. 161 He was bent, barely able, it seemed, to keep his head up. 1984 E. L. Abel Dict. Drug Abuse Terms & Terminol. 16 Bent, under the influence of a drug. 2000 T. Robbins Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates 174 Usually, he only went on like this when he was bent or stoned, and that morning he'd had but one beer with breakfast. |
Short for bent out of shape (see to bend (a person) out of shape at bend v. Additions) U.S. slang. Angry, annoyed, or upset; worked up. Also with out.
| 1967 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 2 ii. 5 Bent, angry or extremely displeased. 1970 D. Quammen To walk Line xii. 92 Ain't all them honkies gon' be a little bent out when they see my black ass? 2004 C. Dokey How not to spend your Senior Year 134 Well you don't have to get all bent about it. |
▸ Music. Of a note, etc.: altered in pitch or tone, deliberately distorted. Cf. bend v. Additions.
| 1950 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 30 Mar. 35/1 Frank [Sinatra]..served his customers personality as well as bent notes. 1965 Down Beat 9 Sept. 28 His..solo work..contains some judiciously placed bent tones. 1993 Wire Feb. 57/2 The notes produced by the musicians are so ‘bent’ as to be almost Oriental. |