rend
English
Etymology
From Middle English renden, from Old English rendan (“to rend, tear, cut, lacerate, cut down”), from Proto-Germanic *hrandijanan (“to tear”), of uncertain origin. Believed by some to be the causitive of Proto-Germanic *hrindanan (“to push”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱret-, *kret- (“to hit, beat”), in which case would relate it to Old English hrindan (“to thrust, push”). Cognate with Scots rent (“to rend, tear”), Old Frisian renda (“to tear”).
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɛnd
Verb
rend (third-person singular simple present rends, present participle rending, simple past and past participle rent)
- (transitive) To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; 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.
- (transitive) To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force.
- (intransitive) To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.
- Relationships may rend if tempers flare.
- Rending of garments for shiva is a Jewish tradition.
Translations
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology 1
A nasal formation from radhë (similarly to lëndë), from Proto-Indo-European *rēidh-, *rēi- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”).
Noun
rend m
Related terms
Etymology 2
Verb
rend (first-person singular past tense renda, participle rendur)
French
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Etymology
From a Slavic language, compare Serbo-Croatian red.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈrɛnd/
Noun
rend (plural rendek)
Declension
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declension of rend
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possessives of rend
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Derived terms
- Compound words