UNBEND • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Unbend

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/ˌənbˈɛnd/ Listen

verb

Unbend v. t. (past & past part. unbent; pres. part. unbending)

To free from flexure; to make, or allow to become, straight; to loosen; as, to unbend a bow.

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. "You do unbend your noble strength."

(Naut.)

(a)

To unfasten, as sails, from the spars or stays to which they are attached for use.

(b)

To cast loose or untie, as a rope.

Unbend v. i. (past & past part. unbent; pres. part. unbending)

To cease to be bent; to become straight or relaxed.

To relax in exertion, attention, severity, or the like; hence, to indulge in mirth or amusement.

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Etymology of 'Unbend'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Unbend" Quotes from Famous Books

... lit up the face of the Young Comrade. "I'm so glad of that, Hans," he said. "I've always been told that he was a sad man, without a sense of humor; that he was never known to unbend from his stiff gravity. But you say that he was not so; that he could laugh and joke and sing: I like ...

— The Marx He Knew • John Spargo

... polished periods for use in public. In conversation with his immortal soul, he was wont to unbend somewhat. ...

— The Intrusion of Jimmy • P. G. Wodehouse

... how we rule the sea, And terrify the simple Gauls; And how the Saxon and the Celt Their Europe-shaking blows have dealt With Maxim gun and Nordenfelt (Or will when the occasion calls). If sailor-like you'd play your cards, Unbend your sails and lower your yards, Unstep your masts—you'll never want 'em more. Though we're no longer hearts of oak, Yet we can steer and we can stoke, And thanks to coal, and thanks to coke, We never run ...

— The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan - The 14 Gilbert And Sullivan Plays • William Schwenk Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

... under the trees in the park, where all the peasantry of the neighbourhood were regaled with roast-beef and plum-pudding and oceans of ale. Ready-Money Jack presided at one of the tables, and became so full of good cheer, as to unbend from his usual gravity, to sing a song out of all tune, and give two or three shouts of laughter, that almost electrified his neighbours, like so many peals of thunder. The schoolmaster and the ...

— Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists • Washington Irving

... radical difference between relaxation and recreation. To relax is to unbend the bow, to diminish the tension, to lie fallow, to open the nature on all sides. Relaxation involves passivity; it is a negative condition so far as activity is concerned, although it is often a positive condition so far as growth is concerned. Recreation, on the other hand, involves ...

— Essays On Work And Culture • Hamilton Wright Mabie

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