overbend

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ bend.

Verb

overbend (third-person singular simple present overbends, present participle overbending, simple past and past participle overbent)

1. To bend over.
   • 1913, Hanford Chase Judson, Songs Toward the Sunlight, page 19:

     The heavens grow wonderful with purple hue, Soft, rich and deep, peace giving to mine eyes. They overbend the square , Above whose entrance fair The arch , by the Republic set , doth rise In high triumphal state;

   • 1914, George Wharton Edwards, The Forest of Arden, page 2:

     Long ranges of mountain unfold to the left, and here and there thick willows overbend the stream, where lock-tenders sit peacefully with their families before the cabin doorways.

   • 1914, Francis B. Andrews, “The Old Houses of Tewkesbury”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the Birmingham Archaeological Society, volume 40, page 24:

     Almost opposite Clarence House, and immediately adjoining the Swan Hotel, is a lofty and somewhat narrow structure of four storeys, whose twin gablets overhang and overbend the street in quite a serious manner.

   • 2022, Walter Savage Landor, Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare:

     About half a mile from St. John's College is the termination of a natural terrace, with the Cherwell close under it, in some places bright with yellow and red flowers glancing and glowing through the stream, and suddenly in others dark with the shadows of many different trees, in broad, overbending thickets, and with rushes spear-high, and party-coloured flags.

2. To bend to excess; to bend farther than the desired or intended amount.
   • 1912, Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, The Adventurous Simplicissimus, page 277:

     If you sharpen a razor too much you will notch the edge, and if you overbend the bow, at last 'twill break .

   • 1988, Orville D. Lascoe, Handbook of Fabrication Processes, page 33:

     It is more frequently used to overbend predictable small springback.

   • 1994, Jonathan D. Solomon, William Cumpiano, Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology, page 183:

     This becomes even more critical if you overbend and have to unbend in some area. It can be tricky to spot where the overbend is located.

   • 2000, Charles Mason, The Best of Sail Trim, page 94:

     In light air conditions be careful not to overbend the mast or you will turn the sail inside out.

   • 2010, Todd Downs, The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair, page 232:

     Work carefully; you don't want to overbend the cage.

   • 2011, Eddie Horton, Just Compass, page 127:

     Turning to a clean page I over-exaggeratingly overbend the binding for to help the notebook to lay flat.

   • 2013, Stuart Porter, Tidy's Physiotherapy, page 535:

     There are three simple, golden rules: • do not overbend the hip (flex beyond a right-angle); • do not cross the leg over the midline (adduct beyond neutral); • do not twist in either standing or sitting.

   • 2014, Spike Carlsen, The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects:

     When you approach the bottom of the arch on the opposite side, overbend the rebar a bit since it will tend to spring back; then, reposition the rebar against the inside blocks, and continue to have a helper add hold-down blocks until you've created the entire hoop.

   • 2023, Brigitte Kaluza, Riding with seat aids, page 132:

     If you as a rider now 'offer' too much rein contact, the horse will overbend (the front part of the neck shapes into the 'false bend' and the highest point is no longer the poll, but at the second or third cervical vertebra).

3. (guitar) To increase the tension on a string at the fret, causing the note to sharpen.
   • 1962, Artie Traum, Arti Funaro, The Legends of Rock Guitar:

     Try not to overbend that B flat.

   • 2010, David Mead, A Guitarist's FAQ:

     Try it very slowly and listen hard to the sound you make – don't 'overbend' the string as you move it as good vibrato begins with only a minor variation improvement.

   • 2014, James Martin, Zero Point Guitar, page 74:

     However, they do require a lot of control – be careful here not to overbend and overshoot your target note.

4. (harmonica) To overblow or overdraw in order to create a note that is sharper; to move the point in the mouth where airflow is narrowest forward.
   • 2009, Winslow Yerxa, Harmonica For Dummies, page 190:

     Some mid-priced models respond faborably to overbending, but they work much better with reed adjustment.

   • 2010, James Major, Complete 10-Hole Diatonic Harmonica Series: B Harmonica Book, page 9:

     It's easier to overbend on harps in lower keys than higher keys.

   • 2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, The Music Sound:

     While these modifications make the harmonica overbend more easily, overbending is often possible on stock diatonic harmonica, especially on an airtight design.

Noun

overbend (plural overbends)

1. The portion of a pipeline that curves downward from a higher level to the inflection point where the surface holding the upper part is no longer supporting the pipe.
   • 2005, Boyun Guo, Shanhong Song, Ali Ghalambor, Offshore Pipelines, page 143:

     The overbend occurs mainly on the laybarge/vessel and the stinger. The setting of the rollers to obtain a radius of curvature is the main control of the overbend.

   • 2015, E.W. McAllister, Pipeline Rules of Thumb Handbook, page 47:

     To find the number of degrees in the combination bend, square the side bend and the sag or overbend; add them together and extract the square root.

   • 2015, R. Winston Revie, Oil and Gas Pipelines: Integrity and Safety Handbook, page 258:

     Local buckling is most likely to occur in either the overbend or sagbend regions.

2. An instance of overbending (bending too far).
   • 1994, Jonathan D. Solomon, William Cumpiano, Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology, page 183:

     This becomes even more critical if you overbend and have to unbend in some area. It can be tricky to spot where the overbend is located.

   • 1995, Tom Linskey, Race Winning Strategies: Smart Lessons with Deep Dakron, page 120:

     At present they are deep, indicating 'overbend,' because I am flattening the sail to a depth that is shallower than what I cut it to. In effect, you are getting two mainsails here – a flat one with overbend wrinkles , and a normal one without overbend wrinkles.

   • 2021, Frederic P. Hartwell, American Electricians' Handbook, page 9-39:

     The hook area also includes a back-pusher contour which allows the bender to grab on in reverse to remove an overbend or to shift the bend from side to side.

3. The amount by which a material has been overbent.
   • 1967, Product Engineering - Volume 38, page 106:

     This unit features precalculation of required overbend, which Datex calls " adaptive springback compensation."

   • 1996, Peter H. Spectre, Frame, Stem, and Keel Repair, page 29:

     This incorporated the correct amount of overbend at each point to allow the frame to fit well after it had cooled off and sprung back .

   • 2002, Lon Schleining, The Complete Manual of Wood Bending, page 25:

     Design the form to allow for overbend (20 to 30%), to compensate for springback. Too much overbend is better than too little.

4. (guitar) A note that is played sharp due to overbending.
   • 1988, Helen Casabona, Basic Guitar, page 53:

     Figure 32 is an example of an overbend on the G string: Note how my 2nd and 1st fingers are helping the 3rd finger to bend the string , while the index finger serves the added function of pushing the other strings out of the way .

   • 2009, Bob Gulla, Guitar Gods: The 25 Players who Made Rock History, page 94:

     It perfectly embodies the idea of a "feel solo," with its brilliant excursion, rife with crying bends, overbends, and just the right amount of space to let the notes resonate.

   • 2014, Martin Power, Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck:

     That said, Jimmy's taste was no less eclectic, the young guitarist already familiar with the wild overbends of Buddy Guy, the economical beauty of Howlin' Wolf's Hubert Sumlin and even the lush Indian sitar stylings of Ravi Shankar, of whom Page was an extremely early and vocal supporter.

5. (harmonica) A note that is played sharp due to overbending.
   • 2009, Winslow Yerxa, Harmonica For Dummies, page 198:

     The note you hear when you play an overbend seems to pop out of nowhere, with no slide up from another note.

   • 2010, James Major, Complete 10-Hole Diatonic Harmonica Series: B Harmonica Book, page 9:

     To reach a specific overbend note you'll have to control your breath and align the shape of the inside of your mouth to coincide with the frequency of the desired note.

   • 2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, The Music Sound:

     Although there are players who use precise overbends and bends to play the diatonic harmonica as a fully chromatic instrument, this is still very rare, not simply because the technique is difficult, but also because the sound of an overbend is different from the sound of other notes, as is also the case of normal bent notes.

Anagrams

• bend over