Also 4–6 fende, (4 fenden), 7–8 Sc., 9 dial. fain, fen. [Shortened from DEFEND.]
1. trans. = DEFEND v. Now arch. or poet.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28851 (Cott.). Almus … fenddes his saul fra þe fend.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 195.
| Bot he com right son, Normundie to fende, | |
| His right bes nouht doun soner þan any wend. |
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXII. 46. He … fendede hem fro foule vueles.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 13. If þat we kunne fende him fro a fevere.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, IV. 613.
| Wallace in ire a burly brand can draw, | |
| Quhar feill Sothron war semblit vpon raw, | |
| To fende his men with his deyr worthi hand. |
1503. Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 133. And said, ‘In feild go furth and fend the laif.’
1568. Ulp. Fulwell, Like Will to Like, in Hazl., Dodsley, III. 322. Fend your heads, sirs, for I will to it more once.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, I. I. xxvii. O heavenly Salems sons! you fend the right.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Poems (1789), II. 32.
| My trees in bourachs owr my ground | |
| Shall fend ye frae ilk blast o’ wind. |
1845. W. E. Frye, trans. Oehlenschläger’s The Gods of the North, 83.
| I only sought my realm to fend | |
| By wizard spell and mystic song. |
1863. Emerson, Boston Hymn, 16.
| My angel, his name is Freedom,— | |
| Choose him to be your king; | |
| He shall cut pathways east and west, | |
| And fend you with his wing. |
b. refl. and intr. for refl.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 216.
| Þo þat þer purueiance of Oxenford not held, | |
| With scheld & with lance fend him in þe feld. |
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10142. The freike with a fauchon fendit hym well.
1573. Satir. Poems Reform., xl. 196.
| And this is merwell gif we will considder, | |
| Ane sempill man but warldly force or aide, | |
| Aganis quhome Kings and Princes did confidder, | |
| How he suld fend from furie and thair fead. |
1724. R. Falconer, Voy. (1769), 101. There’s no resisting the Will of Providence; for what will come, will come, and there’s no Fending against it.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1842), 17.
| To fend against the winter cauld | |
| The heather we will pu’. |
1864. Sir J. K. James, Tasso (1865), II. XIV. xxiv. An agent prompt to fend and to attack.
1865. S. Evans, Brother Fabian’s Manuscript; and Other Poems, A Charm, 49.
| Goodman true, wouldst fend thyself | |
| From witchcraft and midnight elf? |
2. intr. To fend and prove: to argue, wrangle.
1575. Laneham, Let. (1871), 17. Thus with fending & proouing, with plucking & tugging, skratting and byting, by plain tooth & nayl.
c. 1698. Locke, Cond. Underst., xxxi. The dexterous management of terms, and being able to fend and prove with them, I know has and does pass in the world for a great part of learning.
1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, I. Instead of ’fending and proving with his Mistress, he should come to—a—parrying and thrusting with you.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., II. xxviii. 478. That delighted not in fending and proving.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Fending and Proving, arguing and defending.
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss. ‘He ’s elus after fendin’ an’ provin’ about summats.’
3. To ward or keep off, turn aside, keep out or at a distance. Also, to fend back.
c. 1572. Gascoigne, Fruites Warre (1831), 217.
| They neither gave us meate to feede upon, | |
| Nor drinke, nor powder, pickax, toole nor spade, | |
| So might we sterve, like misers woe begone, | |
| And fend our foes, with blowes of English blade. |
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 466.
| Then spread with Straw, the bedding of thy Fold; | |
| With Fern beneath, to fend the bitter Cold. |
1712. Mrs. Centlivre, Perplexed Lovers, I. i. You shall not want a Friend to fend that Blow.
1787. Burns, Holy Fair, 73. Here stands a shed to fend the show’rs.
1804. Tarras, Poems, 22.
| To bang the nippin frosts o’ winter, | |
| An’ fend the heat o’ simmer’s blinter. |
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., ‘Fend the boat,’ prevent its striking against any thing.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, ii. § 143. Warm water … in contact with a cold nonconducting cushion of cold water to fend it from the bottom.
1876. Blackmore, Cripps, ii. (1877), 12. Fending the twigs from her eyes and bonnet.
1877. Kinglake, Crimea, VI. vi. 364. It enabled him to fend back the masses confronting him.
b. esp. with off.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1031.
| And þar a cite he assailes · & in sege lengis. | |
| Bot wees wiȝtly with-in · þe wallis ascendid, | |
| Freschly fendid of · & fersly with-stude. |
c. 1570. Marr. Wit & Science, IV. i., in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 364. To fend [printed feud] and keep him off a while, until his rage be out.
1669. Penn, No Cross, xx. § 23. Do you think that Words will fend off the Blows of Eternal Vengeance?
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxxvii. ‘Ye had aye a good roof ower your head to fend aff the weather.’
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xiii. (1889), 127. Catch hold of the long boat-hook, and fend her [the boat] off.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, xxiv. 481. We usually carried a bottle of brandy rolled up in our blankets, but that was used only as a medicine; a spoonful in hot water before going to bed, to fend off a chill and fever.
absol. 13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1191. Þay feȝt & þay fende of, & fylter togeder.
1864. E. Sargent, Peculiar, III. 125. The man of nerve looks boldly at the danger and fends off accordingly.
4. intr. To make an effort, strive or try to do something; to make a shift; to take precautions against. Sc. and dial.
15[?]. in Sibbald, Chron. Scot. Poetry, II. 46. Few for falsett now may fend.
c. 1680. [F. Sempill], Banishm. Poverty, in Watson, Collect. Scots Poems, I. 13.
| Then I knew no way how to fen, | |
| My Guts rumbl’d like a Hurle Barrow. |
1712. Mrs. Centlivre, Perplexed Lovers, IV. We must fend against that.
1788. Marshall, Yorksh. Gloss., Fend, to strive as for a livelihood.
1794. Burns, Gane is the day. Semple-folk maun fecht and fen.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede (ed. 4), I. 45. I’d make a shift, and fend indoor and out, to give you more liberty.
1865. E. Waugh, Lanc. Songs.
| God bless him that fends for his livin’, | |
| An’ houds up his yed through it o’! |
b. To fend for: to make shift for, look after, provide for. So in to fend for oneself. Chiefly dial. or colloq.
1629. Jackson, Treat. Div. Essence, II. Wks. 1673, II. 139. They do not … direct their brood in their motions, but leave them to fend for themselves.
1660. H. More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness, To the Reader, xxiv. If any be saved in the Church of Rome, they are such as are not truely of it, but above it, and fend for themselves as well as they may by some pardonable sleights of Prudence accompanied with an impregnable innocency of Spirit, and readiness of doing all possible good they can.
1785. Hutton, Bran New Wark, 468. When the awner will not fend for his sell.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., I ha twa bairns to fend for.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xx. ‘Ane wad hae carried me through the warld, and friended me, and fended for me.’
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, 94. ‘Lads as could fend for their sens.’
c. = FARE v.1 7. dial.
1781. Hutton, Tour to Caves, Gloss., How fend you, how fare you?
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial. (1821), 113. I’d kna haw they fend all.
1794. Burns, The Carle of Kellyburn Braes, ii. He met wi’ the devil; says, ‘How do you fen?’
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, 23. ‘How fens tee, Jeck? gaily?’
5. trans. = To fend for (4 b). Hence, to provide sustenance for, support, maintain. Chiefly Sc. and dial.
1637. Rutherford, Lett., lxxxvii. (1863), I. 223. I am sure, that if my one foot were in heaven, and if then He should say, ‘Fend thyself, I will hold my grips of thee no longer,’ I should go no farther, but presently fall down in as many pieces of dead nature.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, To Fend; to shift for.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Poems, Rising of Session, 18.
| Hain’d mu’ter hauds the mill at ease, | |
| And fends the Miller. |
1787. Burns, The Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie, 32.
| But gie them guid cow-milk their fill, | |
| Till they be fit to fend themsel. |
1816. Scott, Old Mort., v. ‘They are puirly armed, and warse fended wi’ victual.’
† 6. To forbid. Obs. exc. dial. Cf. FEN v.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 9. I fend, Godes forbot, that ever thou thrife!
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk. [Ee fain un vrum gwain pun eez graewn,] he forbid his goinng on his land.
Hence Fended ppl. a., Fending ppl. a.
1867. Emerson, May-Day, etc., Wks. (Bohn), III. 423. This Oreads’ fended Paradise.
1883. Almondbury Gloss., Fending … industrious.
