bender|ˈbɛndə(r)|[f.bend v. + -er1.]He who or that which bends.1.An instrument for bending; a pair of pliers.1496Bk.St.Albans, Fysshynge 14For makynge your hokis..a bender, a payr of longe and smalle tongys.
1598Florio,Piegatoie, a paire of benders that goldsmithes vse, called bowing pincers or plyers.
1833RennieAlph.Angling 69The artist, of[fish-hooks]requires a hammer, a knife, a pair of pincers..a bender.
†2.A mechanical contrivance for bending, ‘drawing up,’ or setting cross-bows. Obs.1684R. WallerNat.Exper.146Cros-bows that are bent with a Bender.
3.One who bends.1596SpenserF.Q. i. i. 9The eugh, obedient to the benders will.
1833Medwin inFraser'sMag.VII. 18He..leads on the benders of the bow.
4.†a.A flexor muscle. Obs.1615CrookeBody of Man 791This muscle with the second and third benders of the thumb.
1668Culpepper & ColeBarthol.Anat.iv. viii. 165Two Benders of the Cubit.
b.A leg or knee. slang (orig.U.S.).1849LongfellowKavanagh xii,Young ladies are not allowed to cross their benders in school.
1925A. S. M. HutchinsonOne Increasing Purpose iii. xi,They say family prayers there with the servants every night, all down on their benders.
5.†a.Sc.A hard drinker. Obs.(Cf.bend v. 23.)1728RamsayPoems (1848) III. 162Now lend your lugs, ye benders fine, Wha ken the benefit of wine.
1810TannahillPoems (1846) 53Or benders, blest your wizzens weetin'.
b.A bout of drinking; a riotous party. slang (orig.U.S.).1846D. CorcoranPickings from Portfolio 62,I was on an almighty big bender last night..and the way we did walk into the highly concentrated hard cider.
1887J. HattonOld Ho. Sandwich I. ii. iv. 82The boss of Drummond's Gulch may be said to have begun his ‘bender’, as a bout of drunken dissipation was called in these regions.
1929K. S. PrichardCoonardoo 7And I've warned Paddy Hanson to look after Hughie if Sam does get on a bender.
1933Bulletin (Sydney) 14 June 11/4Being on a strenuous bender, he had forgotten to sign a cheque.
1951WodehouseOld Reliable iv. 64Where's the harm in an occasional bender? Boys will be boys.
6.slang. A sixpence. (? Because it bends easily.)1836DickensSk.Boz (1850) 68/2‘Niver mind the loss of two bob and a bender!’
1837―Pickw. xlii. (D.)‘Will you take three bob?’ ‘And a bender,’ suggested the clerical gentleman.
1855ThackerayNewcomes xi,‘A half-crown, Honeyman? By cock and pye it is not worth a bender.’
7.A big or good specimen of its kind; a ‘whopper’, ‘corker’ (s.w.dial.).1842DanielBride of Scio 190 (E.D.D.),Ma vice[=fist]es wat I kal a bendur.
1891R. P. ChopeDial.Hartlands.v.,‘A proper bender, an' no mistake!’
1895KiplingDay's Work (1898) 180By Jove, it's a bender of a night.
▸ slang (orig.U.S., now chiefly Brit.). Originally: a homosexual man who assumes the receptive role in anal intercourse. In later use also (more generally): a (male) homosexual.Cf.bentadj.5c.Originally used as a non-derogatory term among male homosexuals, but now chiefly derogatory and in more general use.1965GuildDict.Homosexual Terms 3Bender, a homosexual who submits to passive anal intercourse.
1971D. RaderGov't Inspected Meat xi. 121Get ass-fucked like a bender by a butching lover.
1977Spare Rib July 31/1A dialogue about gayness began when the team challenged the coach, demanding to know if she was a ‘bender’!
1986J. JosephPersephone xxxvi. 177He was a known bender.
1996Daily Mirror (Nexis) 7 Sept. 16Most of the people there were gay and I heard Liam say to Noel:..‘They're all benders. I'm off!’
2002Observer 10 Nov. i. 31/4,I remembered hearing Fleet Street homophobes rave about the distinction between ‘stabbers’ and ‘benders’ for hours.
▸ Brit.(orig.in Gypsy usage). Also more fully bender tent. A shelter made by covering a framework of bent branches with canvas or tarpaulin.1934Times 10 Jan. 7/5They lived..in ‘benders’—willow branches bent over and covered with sacks.
1958Man 58 89/1The bender tent is familiar in Britain as the typical shelter of the Gypsies, particularly in the New Forest and in Surrey.
1993R. Lowe & W. ShawTravellers 220We were all going to spend the winter together, so we thought we might as well build one big bender.
1997R. RendellRoad Rage (1998) vi. 73Jordan's men began pulling people out of the bender tents.
2001A. SayleDog Catcher 306,I would go and live wild in a bender in the woods.
