mend

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See also: mënd

English

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WOTD – 7 August 2024

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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PIE word
*h₁eǵʰs

From Middle English menden (“to cure; to do good to, benefit; to do or make better, improve; to get better, recover; to keep in a good state; to put right, amend; to reform, repent”),[1] the aphetic form of amenden (“to alter, change (especially for the better); to atone; to chastise, punish; to correct, remedy, amend; to cure; to excel, surpass; to forgive; to get or make better, improve; to make ready; to mend, repair, restore; to get well, recover; to relieve”),[2] or from its etymon Anglo-Norman amender and Old French amender (“to cure; to fix, repair; to set right, correct”) (modern French amender),[3] from Latin ēmendāre, the present active infinitive of ēmendō (“to atone; to chastise, punish; to correct, remedy, amend; to cure”), from ē- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + mendum (“defect; error, fault”) (from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“defect; fault”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs).

Verb

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mend (third-person singular simple present mends, present participle mending, simple past and past participle mended)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To physically repair (something that is broken, defaced, decayed, torn, or otherwise damaged).
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:repair
      My trousers have a big rip in them and need mending.
      When your car breaks down, you can take it to the garage to have it mended.
      • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Machew [Matthew] iiij:[21–22], folio iij, recto, column 2:
        [H]e [Jesus] ſawe other two brethren, James the ſonne of Zebede, and Jhon his brother, in the ſhip with Zebede their father, mendynge their nettes, and called them. And they without tarynge lefte yͤ ſhyp and their father, and folowed hym.
      • 1713 February 8 (Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “[Dr. Swift’s Journal to Stella.] Letter LIX.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 373:
        [A] fellow mending the tiles just when the fire broke out, saw a pot with wildfire in the room.
      • 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 148:
        Then, Betsey, my dear, run into the kitchen, and see if Rebecca has put the water on; and tell her to bring in the tea-things as soon as she can. I wish we could get the bell mended—but Betsey is a very handy little messenger.
      • 1941 January 25, William Faulkner, “Go Down, Moses”, in Go Down, Moses, New York, N.Y.: Random House, published 1942 (3rd printing), →OCLC, section 1, page 168:
        The boy first remembered him as sitting in the door of the plantation blacksmith-shop, where he sharpened plow-points and mended tools and even did rough carpenter-work when he was not in the woods.
    2. (figurative)
      1. To add fuel to (a fire).
      2. To correct or put right (an error, a fault, etc.); to rectify, to remedy.
        Synonyms: make good, set straight
        • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 92, column 1:
          Dro[mio of Syracuse]. […] [S]he ſvveats a man may goe ouer-ſhooes in the grime of it. / Anti[pholus of Syracuse]. That's a fault that vvater vvill mend.
        • 1678 January 11 – February 11 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] II. Applied to the Making of Hinges, Locks, Keys, Screws and Nuts Small and Great. Of Hinges.”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume I, London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1683, →OCLC, page 20:
          [Y]ou muſt examine vvhere the fault is, and taking the Pin out mend the fault in the Joynt.
        • 1710 May 17 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [pseudonym; Richard Steele], “Saturday, May 6, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 168; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.;  […], 1822, →OCLC, page 19:
          It is a mean want of fortitude in a good man, not to be able to do a virtuous action with as much confidence as an impudent fellow does an ill one. There is no way of mending such false modesty, but by laying it down for a rule, that there is nothing shameful but what is criminal.
          The spelling has been modernized.
        • 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IX, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume I (The Black Dwarf), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 194:
          I can sleep weel aneugh mysel out-bye beside the naig, as I hae done money a lang night on the hills, but how ye are to put yoursels up, I canna see! And, what's waur, I canna mend it; […]
        • 1819, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, The Cenci: A Tragedy, […], [Livorno], Italy: […] [Percy B. Shelley] for C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 47:
          This old Francesco Cenci, as you know, / […] left me so / In poverty, the which I sought to mend / By holding a poor office in the state.
        • 1987, Chinua Achebe, chapter 6, in Anthills of the Savannah, London: Picador, published 1988, →ISBN, page 80:
          [S]he peered into her handbag mirror to mend her rouge: […]
      3. To put (something) in a better state; to ameliorate, to improve, to reform, to set right.
        Her stutter was mended by a speech therapist.
        My broken heart was mended.
      4. To remove fault or sin from (someone, or their behaviour or character); to improve morally, to reform.
      5. In mend one's pace: to adjust (a pace or speed), especially to match that of someone or something else; also, to quicken or speed up (a pace).
      6. (archaic) To correct or put right the defects, errors, or faults of (something); to amend, to emend, to fix.
        • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 81, lines 323–324:
          Salt Earth and bitter are not fit to ſovv, / Nor vvill be tam'd or mended vvith the Plough.
        • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Marle”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC, pages 73–74:
          [W]here Marle is not laid too thick, nor is of too tough binding cold a quality, it vvill often mend Clays, eſpecially Grazing ground, […]
      7. (archaic) To increase the quality of (someone or something); to better, to improve on; also, to produce something better than (something else).
      8. (archaic) To make amends or reparation for (a wrong done); to atone.
      9. (archaic except UK, regional) To restore (someone or something) to a healthy state; to cure, to heal.
    3. (obsolete)
      1. To adjust or correctly position (something; specifically (nautical), a sail).
      2. To put out (a candle).
      3. (figurative) To add one or more things in order to improve (something, especially wages); to supplement; also, to remedy a shortfall in (something).
      4. (figurative) To relieve (distress); to alleviate, to ease.
      5. (reflexive, figurative) To reform (oneself).
      6. (also reflexive, figurative) To improve the condition or fortune of (oneself or someone).
      7. (England, regional) To repair the clothes of (someone).
      8. (Northern Ireland, Scotland, figurative) To cause (a person or animal) to gain weight; to fatten.
      9. (Scotland, figurative) Chiefly with the impersonal pronoun it: to provide a benefit to (someone); to advantage, to profit.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. (figurative)
      1. Of an illness: to become less severe; also, of an injury or wound, or an injured body part: to get better, to heal.
      2. Of a person: to become healthy again; to recover from illness.
      3. (archaic) Now only in least said, soonest mended: to make amends or reparation.
        • 1836, [Frederick] Marryat, “The Pirate. Chapter V. The Old Maid.”, in The Pirate, and The Three Cutters. […], London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, →OCLC, page 46:
          You are in a peck of troubles, as most men are who are free-livers, and are led astray by artful and alluring females. However, as Lady Betty says, 'the least said the soonest mended.'
        • 1841, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VIII, in Night and Morning […], volume III, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 85:
          I have not let Mr. Spencer see that I have discovered his secret, I can do that or not, according to circumstances hereafter, neither have i said any thing of my discovery to Mrs. B. or Camilla. At present, 'least said soonest mended.'
      4. (chiefly Scotland) To become morally improved or reformed.
    2. (obsolete)
      1. Chiefly used together with make: to make repairs.
        • 1622, David Browne, “The Manner How to Forme the Penne”, in The New Invention, Intituled, Calligraphia: Or, The Arte of Faire Writing: […], Saint Andrews, Fife, Scotland: […] Edward Raban, printer to the Vniversitie [of Saint Andrews], →OCLC, section I (Comprehending All the Rules of Preparation, […]), page 6:
          An evill pen, is that vvhich is ſouple or vveake, vvhich vvhen thou makeſt, or mendeſt, muſt haue a ſhort ſlit, and bee ſuffered to remaine great on both ſides, becauſe it is vveake; […]
        • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “On the Wholesale Business at the Old Clothes Exchange”, in London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume II (The London Street-folk. Book the Second.), London: [Griffin, Bohn, and Company], →OCLC, page 30, column 1:
          [T]he piece of woollen fabric which has been rejected by those who make or mend, and who must make or mend so cheaply that the veriest vagrant may be their customer, is formed not only into a new material, but into a material which sometimes is made into a new garment. These garments are inferior to those woven of new wool, both in look and wear; but in some articles the re-manufacture is beautiful.
        • 1888, Walter Besant, “With the Middle Class”, in Fifty Years Ago, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 91:
          There was a fiction in genteel families that the ladies of the house never did anything serious or serviceable after dinner; […] Why they went through this elaborate pretence I have not the least idea, because everybody knew that every girl in the place was always making, mending, cutting-out, basting, gusseting, trimming, turning, and contriving. How do you suppose that the solicitor's daughters made so brave a show on Sundays if they were not clever enough to make up things for themselves?
      2. (figurative) To advance to a better state; to become less bad or faulty; to improve.
        • 1546, John Heywood, chapter IX, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […], London: George Bell and Sons, […], published 1874, →OCLC, part II, page 154:
          Then would ye mend as the fletcher mends his bolt, / Or sowre ale mendeth in summer, […]
          The spelling has been modernized.
        • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 258, column 2:
          VVhat thinke you of this foole Maluolio, doth he not mend?
        • 1645 August 13 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XXXVIII. To Master R. B.”, in [Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ.] A New Volume of Familiar Letters, […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section, page 47:
          I confeſs this clime (as matters go) is untovvard to improve ſuch buds of vertue, but the times may mend, novv that our King vvith the Sun, makes his approach unto us more and more: […]
        • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, “From Rome to Naples”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 174:
          St. Peters ſeldom anſvvers Expectation at firſt entering it, but enlarges it ſelf on all Sides inſenſibly, and mends upon the Eye every Moment.
        • 1711 May 12 (Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “[Dr. Swift’s Journal to Stella.] Letter XXII.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 36:
          [M]y friend Lewis and I dined with Kit Musgrave, if you know such a man: and, the weather mending, I walked gravely home this evening; and so I design to walk and walk till I am well: I fancy myself a little better already.
        • 1712 December 3 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, November 22, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 543; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 135:
          In short, the body of man is such a subject as stands the utmost test of examination. Though it appears formed with the nicest wisdom, upon the most superficial survey of it, it still mends upon the search, and produces our surprise and amazement in proportion as we pry into it.
          The spelling has been modernized.
        • a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “The Turtle and Sparrow. An Elegiac Tale, Occasioned by the Death of Prince George, 1708.”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, page 151:
          Matters at vvorſt are ſure to mend, / The devils vvife vvas but a fiend.
        • 1736, [George Berkeley], “Query 5”, in The Querist, Containing Several Queries, Proposed to the Consideration of the Public. […], part II, London: […] J. Roberts, […], →OCLC, page 1:
          VVhether it can be reaſonably hoped, that our State vvill mend, ſo long as Property is inſecure among us?
      3. (figurative) To improve in amount or price.
      4. (figurative) Of an error, fault, etc.: to be corrected or put right.
        • 1712 June 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Alexander Pope], “WEDNESDAY, June 18, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 408; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, pages 17–18:
          Young men, whose passions are not a little unruly, give small hopes of their ever being considerable; the fire of youth will of course abate, and is a fault, if it be a fault, that mends every day; but surely, unless a man has fire in his youth, he can hardly have warmth in old age.
          The spelling has been modernized.
      5. (figurative) Followed by of: to recover from a bad state; to get better, to grow out of.
      6. (Northern Ireland, Scotland, figurative) Of an animal: to gain weight, to fatten.
      7. (Scotland, figurative) To advantage, to avail, to help.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of mend
infinitive (to) mend
present tense past tense
1st-person singular mend mended
2nd-person singular mend, mendest† mended, mendedst†
3rd-person singular mends, mendeth† mended
plural mend
subjunctive mend mended
imperative mend —
participles mending mended

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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to put (something) in a better state — see ameliorate,‎ improve,‎ reform
(transitive) to remove fault or sin from (someone, or their behaviour or character); (intransitive) to become morally improved or reformed — see reform
to quicken or speed up (a pace) — see quicken
to correct or put right the defects, errors, or faults of (something) — see amend,‎ fix
to increase the quality of (someone or something) — see better,‎ improve on
(transitive) to make amends or reparation for (a wrong done); (intransitive) to make amends or reparation — see atone,‎ make amends
to restore (someone or something) to a healthy state — see cure,‎ heal
of an illness: to become less severe; of an injury or wound, or an injured body part: to get better, to heal — see get better,‎ heal
of a person: to become healthy again; to recover from illness — see recover
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

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Partly:[4]

Noun

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mend (countable and uncountable, plural mends)

  1. Senses relating to improvement or repairing.
    1. (countable) An act of repairing.
      My trousers have a big rip in them and need a mend.
    2. (countable) A place in a thing (such as a tear in clothing) which has been repaired.
    3. (uncountable) Chiefly in on the mend: improvement in health; recovery from illness.
  3. (obsolete, uncountable) Recompense; restoration or reparation, especially (Christianity) from sin.
    Synonym: (chiefly Scotland) mends
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “mē̆nden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “amē̆nden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “mend, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “mend, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “mend, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “mend, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. ^ “mē̆nd(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  6. ^ “amē̆nde(s, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading

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Albanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin mentem.

Noun

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mend

  1. mind

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • “mend”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[1] (in Albanian), 1980
  • Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “mend”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 256
  • Newmark, L. (1999) “mend”, in Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary‎[2]
  • “mend”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

Polish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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mend

  1. genitive plural of menda
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