fender

Etymology

fend + -er

noun

1. (US) panel of a car which encloses the wheel area, especially the front wheels.
2. (US) a shield, usually of plastic or metal, on a bicycle that protects the rider from mud or water
3. (nautical) any shaped cushion-like object normally made from polymers, rubber or wood that is placed along the sides of a boat to prevent damage when moored alongside another vessel or jetty, or when using a lock, etc. Modern variations are cylindrical although older wooden version and rubbing strips can still be found; old tyres are used as a cheap substitute
4. a low metal framework in front of a fireplace, intended to catch hot coals, soot, and ash
   Now and then he would make a motion with his feet as if he were running quickly backward upstairs, and would tread on the edge of the fender, so that the fire-irons went flying and the buttered-bun dishes crashed against each other in the hearth. 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, I [Uniform ed., p. 12]
   Our solid, shiny chairs, our immense, dingy sofas, our heavy mahogany tables and our cast-iron fenders, often bearing the initials of long-dead railway companies, likewise our plaster walls of chocolate and duck-egg green and our hissing gasoliers have their roots deep in our national history. 1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 357

verb

1. (nautical) To use fenders to protect the side of a boat