Bend

(bend.) [From A.S. ben dan, to curve.] (Her.) One of the 10 honorable ordinaries drawn from the dexter or right corner (Fig. 78), at the top of the escutcheon, to the sinister base, or left corner, at the bottom. It is supposed to represent a shoulder-belt, N or scarf, and show the bearer (or one of his ancestors) to have been valiant in war. It is sometimes styled a bend dexter to distinguish it from the bend sinister, which is drawn from left to Fig. 78.-BEND. right on the shield, and denotes illegitimacy. (Naut.) The bends of a ship are the strongest and thickest planks in her sides, and are reckoned from the water, first, second, or third bend. They have the beams, knees, and futtocks in bolted, and form the main strength of the ship's side. Ben'der, a fortified town of Ru ia in Europe, prov. Be arabia, on the Dneister, 48 m. from its mouth, and 58 W.N.W. of Ode a. Pop. 6,000. [s. 87]