Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1721-1917
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BEND, v.1, n.1
1. v. To drink hard.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 16:
Which we with greed Bended as fast as she cou'd brew.Abd. 1790 A. Shirrefs Gloss. 4:
Bend, to drink.Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 80:
And aiblins gin he'd bended free A towmond twa.
2. n.
(1) A pull of liquor.Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Shepherd Act III. Sc. ii. in Poems (1728):
Come, gie's the other Bend; We'll drink their Healths, whatever Way it end.
Phr.: to have a bend, to have a drinking bout.w.Sc. 1879 Kidston Proc. Gen. Assembly F.C. Scot. 62:
"Going on the spree" or "having a bend."
(2) A hard drinker. See Bender.
3. Phr.: bend the bicker, -biker, -bicquor, to drink, from the turning up of the tankard in pouring out the liquor.Sc. 1845 J. Grant Romance of War xxxvii.:
I was dumbfounded and gane gyte that Nicht, and it was a' after I had bent the biker a gay gude while.Mry.(D) 1806 J. Cock Simple Strains 135:
Sic feast, and rant, and bend the bicker And think that they can sit fu' sicker.m.Sc. 1917 J. Buchan Poems 39:
Sing, lads, and bend the bicker, gloamin' draps On Wiston side.Edb. 1772 R. Fergusson Sc. Poems (1925) 22:
In tents the carles bend the bicker, An' rant an' roar like wud.Rnf. 1788 E. Picken Poems 15:
The wight oppress'd wi' toil and care, . . . But sweetly bends the friendly bicquor, To drown dull care by dint o' liquor.
