rend

---

Verb

rend (rends, present participle rending; past and past participle rent)

1. (transitive) To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst

   Powder rends a rock in blasting.

   Lightning rends an oak.

   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2

     If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak / And peg thee in his knotty entrails till / Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters.

   • 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, pg. 317:

     We are most vulnerable now to the messages of the new subcults, to the claims and counterclaims that rend the air.

2. (transitive) To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate.
   • 1611, King James Version, Job 1:12:

     And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

3. (intransitive) To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.

   Relationships may rend if tempers flare.

Translations

• French: rompre
• Italian: spaccare
• Portuguese: rasgar
• Russian: раздира́ть
• Spanish: rasgar

Translations

• Russian: отрыва́ть

Noun

rend (plural rends)

1. A violent separation of parts.
   • 2002, John S. Anderson, A Daughter of Light (page xvi)

     She'd been in a couple of minor car accidents herself, and witnessed a few others, and the rend of metal was unforgettable.

---

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002