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fend - 6 dictionary results

fend

[fend]
–verb (used with object)
1. to ward off (often fol. by off): to fend off blows.
2. to defend.
–verb (used without object)
3. to resist or make defense: to fend against poverty.
4. to parry; fence.
5. to shift; provide: to fend for oneself.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME fenden, aph. var. of defenden to defend


5. manage, make out, get along.
fend   (fěnd)   
v.   fend·ed, fend·ing, fends

v.   tr.
  1. To ward off. Often used with off: fend off an attack.
  2. Archaic To defend.
v.   intr.
  1. To make an effort to resist: fend against the cold.
  2. To attempt to manage without assistance: had to fend for ourselves until we were rescued.

[Middle English fenden, short for defenden, to defend; see defend.]

Fend

Fend\, n. A fiend. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Fend

Fend\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fended; p. pr. & vb. n. Fending.] [Abbrev. fr. defend.] To keep off; to prevent from entering or hitting; to ward off; to shut out; -- often with off; as, to fend off blows.

With fern beneath to fend the bitter cold. --Dryden.

To fend off a boat or vessel (Naut.), to prevent its running against anything with too much violence.

Fend

Fend\, v. i. To act on the defensive, or in opposition; to resist; to parry; to shift off.

The dexterous management of terms, and being able to fend . . . with them, passes for a great part of learning. --Locke.
Language Translation for : fend
Spanish: defenderse,
German: sorgen für,
Japanese: 自活する

fend 
c.1300, shortening of defend. To fend for oneself (1629) is to see to one's own defense.
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