rend

Etymology

From Middle English renden, from Old English rendan (“to rend, tear, cut, lacerate, cut down”), from Proto-West Germanic *(h)randijan (“to tear”), of uncertain origin. Believed by some to be the causative of Proto-Germanic *hrindaną (“to push”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱret-, *kret- (“to hit, beat”), which would make it related to Old English hrindan (“to thrust, push”). Cognate with Scots rent (“to rend, tear”), Old Frisian renda (“to tear”).

verb

1. (transitive) To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst
   Powder rends a rock in blasting.
   Lightning rends an oak.
   We are most vulnerable now to the messages of the new subcults, to the claims and counterclaims that rend the air. 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock: Bantam Books, page 317
2. (transitive) To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate.
3. (intransitive) To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.
   Relationships may rend if tempers flare.

noun

1. A violent separation of parts.
   She'd been in a couple of minor car accidents herself, and witnessed a few others, and the rend of metal was unforgettable. 2002, John S. Anderson, A Daughter of Light, page xvi