Unbend
[ʌn'bend] or [,ʌn'bɛnd]
Definition
(verb.) release from mental strain, tension, or formality; 'unbend the mind from absorbing too much information'.
(verb.) free from flexure; 'unbend a bow'.
(verb.) unfasten, as a sail, from a spar or a stay.
Typed by Jeanette--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To free from flexure; to make, or allow to become, straight; to loosen; as, to unbend a bow.
(v. t.) A remit from a strain or from exertion; to set at ease for a time; to relax; as, to unbend the mind from study or care.
(v. t.) To unfasten, as sails, from the spars or stays to which they are attached for use.
(v. t.) To cast loose or untie, as a rope.
(v. i.) To cease to be bent; to become straight or relaxed.
(v. i.) To relax in exertion, attention, severity, or the like; hence, to indulge in mirth or amusement.
Checked by Karol
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Straighten, make straight.[2]. Relax, remit, recreate, take recreation, be diverted, be amused.[3]. (Naut.) Unfasten, untie.
Edited by Kathleen
Definition
v.t. to free from being in a bent state: to make straight: to free from strain or exertion: to set at ease.—v.i. to become relaxed: to behave with freedom from stiffness to be affable.—adj. Unbend′ing not bending: unyielding: resolute.—n. a relaxing.—adv. Unbend′ingly.—n. Unbend′ingness.
Inputed by Frances
Examples
- The duke seeing that mine was real agitation and not affectation, condescended to unbend a little. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- You unbend your forehead at last, said Mr. Rivers. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- But you must unbend, you know. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I never saw my aunt unbend more systematically to anyone. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- It seemed a strangely inopportune moment for a proud member of a proud race to unbend in casual conversation with a captor. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- From the haughty and unbending nature of the Countess of Windsor, Idris had few tender filial associations with her. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Moore glanced from one to the other without unbending his aspect. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Straight, unbending, phlegmatic as usual, she came on. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Indeed there may be generally observed in him an unbending, unyielding, brass-bound air, as if he were himself the bassoon of the human orchestra. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- His small hand's fine mechanism, now flaccid and unbent, would in the growth of sinew and muscle, have achieved works of beauty or of strength. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Her frost fell away, her rigidity unbent; she grew smiling and pliant. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The arm Louisa had begun to twine around her neck, unbent itself. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- The shaggy eyebrows unbent a little as he rolled the steps toward the shelf where the Johnsonian literature was placed. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The tempest troubled and shook her while it lasted, but it left her elasticity unbent, and her freshness quite unblighted. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Checked by Edwin