bensil

[BENSELL.] ( Scotch.) běnt, pa. par., a., & s. [BEND, v.t.] A. & B. As pa. par . and particip. adj.: In senses corresponding to those of the verb. "And my people are bent to backsliding from me." Hos . xi. 7. Bent on: Having a fixed determination, resolved on, determined on or upon. "We had not proceeded far before we were joined by a woman and two boys, who were bent on this same journey."-Darwin: Voyage round the World , ch. xiv. C. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally ( of things material): (1) The state of being curved flexure, curVature. (2) The amount or degree of the curvature, the degree of flexure. "There are divers subtle inquiries concerning the strength required to the bending of bows, the force they have in the discharge, according to the several bents, and the strength required to be in the string of them."-Wilkins. (3) The declivity of a hill. "A mountain stood, Threat'ning from high, and overlook'd the wood; Beneath the low'ring brow, and on a bent , The temple stood of Mars armipotent." Dryden: Palamon & Arcite , ii 342-45. 2. Figuratively ( of what is immaterial more frequently than of what is material): (1) Tendency. Used (a) Of matter under the operation of natural law. "If, for example, he wishes to know how a ma of liquid would shape itself, if at liberty to follow the bent of its own molecular forces."-Tyndall: Frag. of Science, 3rd ed., xiv. 405. (b) Of the mind or of the heart: Inclination, disposition, proclivity, whether slight or irresistibly powerful. In this sense it may be followed by to , towards, or for . "He knew the strong bent of the country towards the house of York."- Bacon . "Let there be propensity and bent of will to religion, and there will be the same sedulity and indefatigable industry."- South . (2) Full stretch, utmost power of the mind, the heart, or the will. The metaphor is that of a bow drawn back to the utmost. "They fool me to the top of my bent."-Shakesp.: Hamlet , iii. 2. (3) A turning point; a change of subject, or of anything else. "The exercising the understanding in the several ways of reasoning, teacheth the mind supplene , to apply itself more dexterously to beats and turns of the matter, in all its researches."-Locke. II. Technically : 1. Arch . & Carp. One section of the frame of a building, which is put together on the ground or foundation, and then raised by holding the feet of the posts and elevating the upper portion. A bent consists of posts united by the beams which pa transversely acro the building. When raised it is secured by the beams of the side to the other bents. ( Knight .) (c) Crabb thus distinguishes between bent , curved, crooked , and awry : -" Bent is here the generic term, all the rest are but modes of the bent ; what is bent is opposed to that which is straight; things may therefore be bent to any degree, but when curved they are bent only to a small degree; when crooked they are bent to a great degree: a stick is bent any way; it is curved by being bent one specific way; it is crooked by being bent different ways. Things may be bent by accident or design; they are curved by design, or according to some rule; they are crooked by accident or in violation of some rule: a stick is bent by the force of the hand; a line is curved so as to make a mathematical figure; it is crooked so as to lose all figure. Awry marks a species of crookedne , but crooked is applied as an epithet, and awry is employed to characterise the action; hence we speak of a crooked thing, and of sitting or standing awry . " (b) Bent , bias, inclination , and prepo e ion are thus discriminated:-" All these terms denote a preponderating influence on the mind. Bent is applied to the wills, affections, and powers in general; bias solely to the judgment; inclination and prepo e ion to the state of the feelings. The bent includes the general state of the mind, and the object on which it fixes a regard; bias , the particular influential power which sways the judging faculty: the one is absolutely considered with regard to itself; the other relatively to its results and the object it acts upon. Bent is sometimes with regard to bias as cause is to effect; we may frequently trace in the particular bent of a person's likes and dislikes the principal bias which determines his opinions. Inclination is a faint kind of bent ; prepo e ion is a weak species of bias : an inclination is a state of something, namely, a state of the feelings; prepo e ion is an actual something, namely, the thing that prepo e es. (Crabb: Eng. Synon.) 2. Mining: The term used when the ore suddenly deviates from its usual course in the mine. bent-gauge, s. Wood-working, . A gauge whose blade forms an angle with the handle. (Used by wood-workers and sculptors)