Bent

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: bÄ•nt, IPA: /bÉ›nt/
• Rhymes: -É›nt

From bend.

Verb

1. bent

   (past of bend)

Full definition of bent

Adjective

1. (Of something that is usually straight) folded, dented
2. (derogatory, colloquial, chiefly UK) Homosexual.
3. Determined or insistent.He was bent on going to Texas, but not even he could say why.They were bent on mischief.
4. Of a person, leading a life of crime.
5. (slang, football) inaccurate at shootingThat shot was so bent it left the pitch.
6. (colloquial, chiefly US) Suffering from the bends
7. (slang) High from using both marijuana and alcohol.Man, I am so bent right now!

Synonyms

• (folded) crooked
• (homosexual) queer

Derived terms

• bent as a nine-bob note

Related terms

• (determined) hellbent

Noun

1. An inclination or talent.He had a natural bent for painting.
2. A predisposition to act or react in a particular way.His mind was of a technical bent.
3. The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity.the bent of a bow
4. A declivity or slope, as of a hill.
5. Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.
• John Lockebents and turns of the matter
6. (carpentry) A transverse frame of a framed structure.
7. Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.
• Norristhe full bent and stress of the soul

Synonyms

• (an inclination or talent) disposition, predilection, proclivity, propensity

Origin uncertain. Apparently representing Old English beonet- (attested only in place-names and personal names), cognate with Old High German binuz (modern German Binse ("rush, reed")).

Noun

1. Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.
• DraytonHis spear a bent, both stiff and strong.
• 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’, The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society 2005, p. 121: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 ....
• 1913, D. H. Lawrence, ,Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent.
2. A grassy area, grassland.
• The Ballad of Chevy ChaseBowmen bickered upon the bent.----