• (British, America) enPR: bĕnt, IPA: /bɛnt/

1. Simple past tense and past participle of bend

bent (comparative benter, superlative bentest)

1. (Of something that is usually straight) folded, dented
2. (colloquial, chiefly, UK) corrupt, dishonest
3. (derogatory, colloquial, chiefly, UK) Homosexual.
4. Determined or insistent.

   He was bent on going to Texas, but not even he could say why.

   They were bent on mischief.

5. (Of a person) leading a life of crime.
6. (slang, football) inaccurately aimed

   That shot was so bent it left the pitch.

7. (colloquial, chiefly, US) Suffering from the bends
8. (slang) High from both marijuana and alcohol.

   Man, I am so bent right now!

• (folded) crooked
• (homosexual) queer

• (determined) hell-bent

• French: courbé
• German: gebeugt
• Italian: piegato, ripiegato
• Portuguese: torto
• Russian: со́гнутый
• Spanish: doblado

• Russian: пидорский

• Italian: fissato
• Russian: повёрнутый

bent (plural bents)

1. An inclination or talent.

   He had a natural bent for painting.

2. A predisposition to act or react in a particular way.

   His mind was of a technical bent.

3. The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity.

   the bent of a bow

4. A declivity or slope, as of a hill.
5. Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.
   • a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, OCLC 6963663 ↗:

     bents and turns of the matter

6. (carpentry) A transverse frame of a framed structure; a subunit of framing.
   1. Such a subunit as a component of a barn's framing, joined to other bents by girts and summer beams.
   2. Such a subunit as a reinforcement to, or integral part of, a bridge's framing.
7. Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.
   • 1707, John Norris (philosopher), Practical Discourses Upon the Beatitudes of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

     the full bent and stress of the soul

• (an inclination or talent) disposition, predilection, proclivity, propensity, see also Thesaurus:predilection

• Italian: talento
• Spanish: inclinación

• Italian: estro, ispirazione
• Spanish: predisposición

bent

1. Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.

   • His spear a bent, both stiff and strong.

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’, The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society 2005, p. 121:

     Gunga Dass gave me a double handful of dried bents which I thrust down the mouth of the lair to the right of his, and followed myself, feet foremost [...].

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 9

     Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent.

2. A grassy area, grassland.
   • c. 1500, The Ballad of Chevy Chase

     Bowmen bickered upon the bent.

3. The old dried stalks of grasses.