BENDING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bending mean? 

• BENDING (noun)
  The noun BENDING has 3 senses:

1. movement that causes the formation of a curve

2. the property of being bent or deflected

3. the act of bending something

  Familiarity information: BENDING used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BENDING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Movement that causes the formation of a curve

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

bend; bending

Hypernyms ("bending" is a kind of...):

motion; movement (a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bending"):

deflection; deflexion; refraction (the amount by which a propagating wave is bent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of being bent or deflected

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bending; deflection; deflexion

Hypernyms ("bending" is a kind of...):

physical property (any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bending"):

wind deflection; windage (the deflection of a projectile resulting from the effects of wind)

refractiveness; refractivity (the physical property of a medium as determined by its index of refraction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of bending something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bending" is a kind of...):

change of shape (an action that changes the shape of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bending"):

flexion; flexure (act of bending a joint; especially a joint between the bones of a limb so that the angle between them is decreased)

crouch (the act of bending low with the limbs close to the body)

hunch (the act of bending yourself into a humped position)

incurvation (the action of creating a curved shape)

 Context examples 

“You must not fear,” said he soothingly, bending forward and patting her forearm.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Negore watched the supple body, bending at the hips as a lynx's body might bend, pliant as a young willow stalk, and, withal, strong as only youth is strong.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The two Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while the elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The fishing-boats are racing for home, and rise and dip in the ground swell as they sweep into the harbour, bending to the scuppers.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

All things were thawing, bending, snapping.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There was something heroic about this gently-bred woman enduring our terrible hardship and with her pittance of strength bending to the tasks of a peasant woman.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I trebled the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I twisted three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into a hook.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The basic movements of the material, shaped into films, sponges, and hydrogels, are induced by nearby permanent or electromagnets and can exhibit as bending, twisting, and expansion.

(New Materials Developed by Scientists Able to Move in Response to Light, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“Did any of you gentlemen want to have it out with ME?” roared Silver, bending far forward from his position on the keg, with his pipe still glowing in his right hand.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)