bent1 (bent)

[Var. of bend1, n., perhaps after bent1, pret. and pp.; but cf. descent, With reverence and lowly bent of knee. Greene, Menaphon's Eclogue. Hold your rod at a bent a little. I. Walton , Complete Angler. 2t. A curved part; a crook or bend.-3. Degree of flexure or curvature; tension; straining; utmost force or power: an archery expre ion, but used figuratively of mental disposi tion. Her affections have their full bent . Then let thy love be younger than thyself, Or thy affection cannot hold the bent. the discharge according to the several bents, and the strength required to be in the string of them. Bp. Wilkins. 4. Declivity; slope. [Rare.] And downward on an hill under a bente Ther stood the temple of Marz armipotent. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1123. The free hours that we have spent, Together, on the brown hill's bent. IMG:content-1945.png:[graphic] Scott , Marmion, Int., ii. 5. Inclination; disposition; a leaning or bias of mind; propensity: as, the bent of the mind or will; the bent of a people toward an object. It is his [the legislator's] best policy to comply with the common bent of mankind. Hume, E ays, Commerce. My smiling at this observation gave her spirits to pursue the bent of her inclination. Goldsmith , The Bee, No. 2. The strong bent of nature is seen in the proportion which this topic of personal relations usurps in the conversation of society. Emerson, Love. 6. Direction taken; turn or winding. For souls already warp'd receive an easy bent. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 399. If your thoughts should a ume so unhappy a bent , you will the more want some mild and affectionate spirit to watch over and console you. Sheridan, The Rivals, v. 1. 7. In carp ., a segment or section of a framed building, as of a long barn or warehouse.8. A framed portion of a wooden scaffolding or trestlework, usually put together on the ground and then raised to its place.-9. A large piece of timber.- 10t. A cast, as of the eye; direction. Who neither looks on heaven, nor on earth, But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view On the fair Cre id. Shak., T. and C., iv. 5. =Syn. 5. Bent, Propensity, Bias, Inclination, Tendency, Pronene , Disposition, all keep more or le of their ori ginal figurativene . Bent is the general and natural state of the mind as disposed toward something; a decided and fixed turning of the mind toward a particular object or mode of action. Propensity is le deep than bent, le a matter of the whole nature, and is often applied to a strong appetency toward that which is evil. Bias has often the same meaning as bent, but tends specially to denote a sort of external and continued action upon the mind: as, "morality influences men's minds and gives a bias to all their actions," Locke. Bias is often little more than prejudice. Inclination is a sort of bent; a leaning, more or le decided, in some direction. Tendency is a little more than inclination, stronger and more permanent. Pronene is by derivation a downward tendency, a strong natural inclination toward that which is in some degree evil: as, pronene to err, to self-justification, to vice; but it is also used in a good sense. Disposition is often a matter of character, with more of choice in it than in the others, but it is used with freedom in lighter senses: as, the disposition to work; the disposition of a plant to climb. They fool me to the top of my bent. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. Without the least propensity to jeer. Byron, Don Juan, x. 42. The bias of human nature to be slow in correspondence triumphs even over the present quickening in the general pace of things. George Eliot , Middle march, II. 263. It is so much your inclination to do good, that you stay not to be asked; which is an approach so nigh to the Deity, that human nature is not capable of a nearer. Dryden, Ded. to Indian Emperor. Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm. Emerson , E ays, 1st ser., p. 256. Actions that promote society and mutual fellowship seem reducible to a pronene to do good to others and a South . ready sense of any good done by others. It cannot be denied that there is now a greater disposi tion amongst men toward the a ertion of individual liberty than existed during the feudal ages. H. Spencer, Social Statics, р. 187.