bent
/bɛnt/ noun C2- An inclination or talent. · He had a natural bent for painting.· the top of one's bent
- A predisposition to act or react in a particular way. · His mind was of a technical bent.
- The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity. · the bent of a bow
- A declivity or slope, as of a hill.
- Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.
- Such a subunit as a component of a barn's framing, joined to other bents by girts and summer beams.
- Such a subunit as a reinforcement to, or integral part of, a bridge's framing.
- Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.
Plural bents
From the library
The two oarsmen bent to their work, and the little boat glided away as rapidly as possible in the midst of the thousand vessels which choke up the narrow way which leads between the two rows of ships from the mouth of the harbor to the Quai d’Orléans.
He had recognized intelligence in the high forehead, courage in the dark eye and bent brow, and frankness in the thick lips that showed a set of pearly teeth.
And Dorothy oiled them and the Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were quite free from rust and as good as new.
They traveled that day and part of the next until they came to the rocky plain where the Tin Woodman lay, all battered and bent.
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