bent

Etymology 1

From bend + -t.

verb

1. simple past and past participle of bend

adj

1. (Of something that is usually straight) Folded, dented.
2. (colloquial, chiefly UK) Corrupt, dishonest.
3. (derogatory, colloquial, chiefly UK) Homosexual.
   Asked bluntly by Julie Webb of the NME whether he was “bent” in December 1974, Freddie answered evasively: “You're a crafty cow. […]” 2019-01-22, Joe Sommerlad, “The reasons why Bohemian Rhapsody faced such a massive backlash”, in The Independent
4. Determined or insistent.
   He was bent on going to Texas, but not even he could say why.
   They were bent on mischief.
   […]in the ape posse, bent on vengeance, traversing landscapes clothed in snow and bristling with California red fir and silver pine, spooking human stragglers, and running across fresh graves as they search for the nameless colonel and try to piece together why the humans are killing each other. July 7, 2017, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes ends up surrendering to formula”, in The Onion AV Club
5. (Of a person) leading a life of crime.
6. (slang, soccer) Inaccurately aimed.
   That shot was so bent it left the pitch.
7. (colloquial, chiefly US) Suffering from the bends.
8. (slang) High from both marijuana and alcohol.
   Man, I am so bent right now!

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
   the force they have in the discharge , according to several bents
4. A declivity or slope, as of a hill.
5. Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.
   bents and turns of the matter
6. (carpentry) A transverse frame of a framed structure; a subunit of framing.
   1. Such a subunit as a component of a barn's framing, joined to other bents by girts and summer beams.
   2. Such a subunit as a reinforcement to, or integral part of, a bridge's framing.
7. Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.
   the full bent and stress of the soul 1707, John Norris, Practical Discourses Upon the Beatitudes of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Etymology 2

From Middle English bent, benet, from Old English *beonet (attested only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic *binut (“reed, rush”), of uncertain origin.

noun

1. Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.
   His spear a bent, both stiff and strong. 1627, Michael Drayton, Nymphidia, published 1810, page 124
   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 …. 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes”, in The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society, published 2005, page 121
2. A grassy area, grassland.
   c. 1500, The Ballad of Chevy Chase Bowmen bickered upon the bent.
3. The old dried stalks of grasses.