UNBENDING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Unbending

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/ˌənbˈɛndɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Unbend v. t. (past & past part. unbent; pres. part. unbending)

1.

To free from flexure; to make, or allow to become, straight; to loosen; as, to unbend a bow.

2.

A remit from a strain or from exertion; to set at ease for a time; to relax; as, to unbend the mind from study or care. "You do unbend your noble strength."

3.

(Naut.)

(a)

To unfasten, as sails, from the spars or stays to which they are attached for use.

(b)

To cast loose or untie, as a rope.

Unbend v. i. (past & past part. unbent; pres. part. unbending)

1.

To cease to be bent; to become straight or relaxed.

2.

To relax in exertion, attention, severity, or the like; hence, to indulge in mirth or amusement.

adjective

Unbending adj.

1.

Not bending; not suffering flexure; not yielding to pressure; stiff; applied to material things. "Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main."

2.

Unyielding in will; not subject to persuasion or influence; inflexible; resolute; applied to persons.

3.

Unyielding in nature; unchangeable; fixed; applied to abstract ideas; as, unbending truths.

4.

Devoted to relaxation or amusement. (R.) "It may entertain your lordships at an unbending hour."

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Etymology of 'Unbending'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Unbending" Quotes from Famous Books

... outlook, he gave himself entirely to his master-principle of loyally to the feudal lord whom he had sworn to obey. This simple conception enabled him to subordinate his interests as a marcher potentate to his duty to the English monarchy. It guided him in his difficult work of serving with unbending constancy a tyrant like John. It shone most clearly when in his old age he saved John's son from the consequences of his father's misdeeds. A happy accident has led to the discovery in our own days of the long poem, drawn up in commemoration ...

— The History of England - From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) • T.F. Tout

... that no quality but sincerity can bestow, since his words go directly to the heart, finding their support in the understanding. Thus it was with Deerslayer and Judith. So soon and so deeply did this simple hunter impress those who knew him with a conviction of his unbending honesty, that all he uttered in commendation was as certain to please, as all he uttered in the way of rebuke was as certain to rankle and excite enmity, where his character had not awakened a respect ...

— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper

... she couldn't expect him to continue that development. A different man might; and Nettie wasn't sure of her refusal to listen...to the end. But she was familiar with Gerrit's unbending conception of the necessity of truth alone. If he married a woman, yellow, black, anything, he would perform, the obligation to the entire boundary of his promise. Good and bad seemed equally united against her. Little ...

— Java Head • Joseph Hergesheimer

... the proper circumscription of the constituencies which elect the local representative bodies, the principle which, when applied as an exclusive and unbending rule to Parliamentary representation, is inappropriate, namely community of local interests, is here the only just and applicable one. The very object of having a local representation is in order that those who have any interest in common which they do not share with ...

— Considerations on Representative Government • John Stuart Mill

... myopia, and a landscape meant nothing to him; when he tried to describe one as he did in the chapter on the "happy valley" in Rasselas he failed. What he did not see he could not appreciate; perhaps it is too much to ask of his self-contained and unbending intellect that he should appreciate the report of it ...

— English Literature: Modern - Home University Library Of Modern Knowledge • G. H. Mair

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