English

Proper noun

Bender

1. A surname​.

English

Noun

bender ‎(plural benders)

1. One who, or that which, bends.
2. A device to aid bending of pipes to a specific angle.
3. (slang) A bout of heavy drinking.

   He's been out on a bender with his mates.

   • 1857, Newspaper, April:^[2]

     A couple of students of Williams College went over to North Adams on a bender. This would have been serious matter under the best of circumstances, but each returned with a “brick in his hat,” etc.

4. (chiefly Britain, slang, derogatory) A homosexual man.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury, 2005, Chapter 6,

     “So they're easy about having a bender in the house, are they, their lordships?”

5. A simple shelter, made using flexible branches or withies
6. (obsolete, Britain, slang) A sixpence.
   • 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers 42

     What will you take to be paid out?’ said the butcher. ‘The regular chummage is two–and–six. Will you take three bob?’ ‘And a bender,’ suggested the clerical gentleman. ‘Well, I don’t mind that; it’s only twopence a piece more,’ said Mr. Martin. ‘What do you say, now? We’ll pay you out for three–and–sixpence a week. Come!’

7. (obsolete, slang, US) A spree, a frolic.
8. (obsolete, slang, US) Something exceptional.

Usage notes

In sense “bout of heavy drinking”, usually in form “on a bender”.

Synonyms

• (bout of heavy drinking): binge, spree, toot
• (shelter): bender tent

Derived terms

• conduit bender
• pipe bender

Translations

References

1. 1 2 “bender” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
2. ↑ Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, Second Edition (1859), p. 29

• Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, p. 96

Anagrams

• rebend