bend [OE] In Old English bendan (of Germanic origin) was ‘put in bonds’ or ‘make a bow taut by means of a string’, leading to an association with the curved shape of the bow. In Scotland a bender [E18th] was a hard drinker, which probably led to the sense ‘a drinking bout’ in mid-19th-century America. Bender in the British sense ‘a tent formed over bent branches’ is mid 20th century.