Bender doesn't strike me as particularly old-fashioned, although binge seems to be more frequently used at present to describe a drunken bout. Perhaps people don't go on Ray Milland-type benders any more. There are other ways to act irresponsibly: taking drugs, watching TV, etc.
The OED Online defines bender as " He who or that which bends." It has two meanings related to drinking:
quote:
5. a.Sc. A hard drinker. Obs. (Cf. BEND v. 23.)
1728 RAMSAY Poems (1848) III. 162 Now lend your lugs, ye benders fine, Wha ken the benefit of wine. 1810 TANNAHILL Poems (1846) 53 Or benders, blest your wizzens weetin'.
b. A bout of drinking; a riotous party. slang (orig. U.S.).
1846 D. CORCORAN Pickings from Portfolio 62, I was on an almighty big bender last night..and the way we did walk into the highly concentrated hard cider. 1887 J. HATTON Old Ho. Sandwich I. II. iv. 82 The boss of Drummond's Gulch may be said to have begun his ‘bender’, as a bout of drunken dissipation was called in these regions. 1929 K. S. PRICHARD Coonardoo 7 And I've warned Paddy Hanson to look after Hughie if Sam does get on a bender. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 14 June 11/4 Being on a strenuous bender, he had forgotten to sign a cheque. 1951 WODEHOUSE Old Reliable iv. 64 Where's the harm in an occasional bender? Boys will be boys.
It gives other meanings of bender, including this one:
quote:
slang (orig. U.S., now chiefly Brit.). Originally: a homosexual man who assumes the receptive role in anal intercourse. In later use also (more generally): a (male) homosexual. Cf. BENT adj. 5c. Originally used as a non-derogatory term among male homosexuals, but now chiefly derogatory and in more general use.
1965Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 3 Bender, a homosexual who submits to passive anal intercourse. 1971 D. RADER Gov't Inspected Meat xi. 121 Get ass-fucked like a bender by a butching lover. 1977Spare Rib July 31/1 A dialogue about gayness began when the team challenged the coach, demanding to know if she was a ‘bender’! 1986 J. JOSEPH Persephone xxxvi. 177 He was a known bender. 1996Daily Mirror (Nexis) 7 Sept. 16 Most of the people there were gay and I heard Liam say to Noel:..‘They're all benders. I'm off!’ 2002Observer 10 Nov. I. 31/4, I remembered hearing Fleet Street homophobes rave about the distinction between ‘stabbers’ and ‘benders’ for hours.
1. An excessive bout of drinking, but more recently also inclusive of a drug taking spree. [Orig. U.S.] 2. A homosexual. Possibly derived from gender bender, or from being the passive partner, bending over to receive sex, as opposed to being the thruster. Derog.
1.n. a drinking binge. (See also twister.): Her benders usually last about ten days. 2.n. a heavy drinker; a drunkard.: This bender comes up to me and nearly kills me with his breath, asking for a match. 3.n. a girl who copulates without much fuss. (Her legs bend easily. The same as benda).: Maydene is a bender and everybody knows it! 4.n.a release of intestinal gas when someone bends over.: I stooped over and let a bender that rocked the room.
Some of those definitions are new to me.
Not surprisingly, the OED Online says bender derives from bend + -er, and gives this definition (one of many):
quote:
V. Senses of doubtful origin.
23. ‘To drink hard; a cant term’ (Jamieson). [Perh. ‘to pull, strain’ in reference to pulling or straining a bow (cf. 3); or ‘to ply, apply oneself to’ (cf. 18).] trans. and intr.
1758 RAMSAY[ Poems (1800) I. 215 (Jam.) Braw tippony..Which we with greed Bended, as fast as she could brew. Ibid. ii. 73 (Jam.) To bend wi' ye, and spend wi' ye, An evening, and gaffaw. [1860 RAMSAY Remin. Ser. I. (ed. 7) 47 Bend weel to the Madeira at dinner, for here ye'll get little o't after. Cf. 18b.]
To pull can also mean "to drink."
Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I remember "bending an elbow" referred to drinking. I had always thought that bender came from that phrase.
Bend (the noun) is also a nautical term. It's a type of knot, and bend (the verb) means "To tie, fasten on, make fast." I wonder if "to tie one on," meaning to get drunk, is somehow related.This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
Bend (the noun) is also a nautical term. It's a type of knot, and bend (the verb) means "To tie, fasten on, make fast." I wonder if "to tie one on," meaning to get drunk, is somehow related.
A sheetbend is a nautical knot, and a sheet is a sail, so "bender" and "three sheets to the wind" may be related nautical metaphors for being drunk.
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
It's a word from the Middle Ages and sounds old-fashioned, though familiar, to me. It's (ultimately) from Latin: major 'chief' (lit., 'better') and domus 'of the house'. The word gives the German last name Meier which is similar in meaning to English steward (stigweard 'keeper of the hall', stig was a wooden enclosure of sorts, and survives on in the meaning of sty as a place to keep pigs). English mayor,as a title, is also from the first Latin word in the phrase. Yet a third and similar in meaning and duties word is seneschal. It is ultimately of Frankish origin *siniskalk 'senior servant'.
Originally posted by Geoff: A sheetbend is a nautical knot, and a sheet is a sail, so "bender" and "three sheets to the wind" may be related nautical metaphors for being drunk.
Here's what the Word Detective says about "three sheets to the wind."
quote:
The phrase "three sheets to the wind" does indeed come from the world of seafaring, specifically sailing ships. The "sheets" in the phrase are not sails, but ropes. Of course, the first thing one learns about ropes once aboard ship is that they are never called "ropes." They are named according to their particular function: halyards (which move or hold things, usually sails, vertically), sheets (which move or hold things horizontally), and lines (which hold things in a static position). The sheets in this case are those ropes which hold the sails in place. If one sheet is loose, the sail will flap in the wind and the ship's progress will be unsteady. Two sheets loose ("in the wind"), and you have a major problem, and with "three sheets in the wind," the ship reels like a drunken sailor.
The specific number of "three sheets" in the phrase wasn't random, by the way -- there was, at one time, a sort of rating system of inebriation among sailors, where "one sheet" meant "tipsy" and so on, up to "four sheets in the wind," meaning to be completely unconscious.
