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English
Etymology
From Middle English menden, by apheresis for amenden (“to amend”); see amend.
Pronunciation
Noun
mend (plural mends)
- A place, as in clothing, which has been repaired by mending.
- The act of repairing or recovering.
My trousers have a big rip in them and need a mend.
1911, Jack London, Adventure:Though he was fearfully weak, he found himself actually feeling better. The disease had spent itself, and the mend had begun.
Derived terms
Translations
place or tear repaired in clothing
Verb
mend (third-person singular simple present mends, present participle mending, simple past and past participle mended)
- (transitive) To repair (something that is torn, broken, defaced, decayed, or otherwise damaged)
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.
- (transitive) To put in a better state; to set right; to reform;
Her stutter was mended by a speech therapist.
My broken heart was mended.
1881, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Sacrifice”, in The Prince and the Pauper: A Tale for Young People of All Ages, Montreal, Que.: Dawson Brothers, →OCLC, page 222:"Give thyself no trouble as to the matter of minding him, good man, I have small mind to mind him; but as to teaching him somewhat, to that I am well inclined." He turned to a subordinate and said, "Give the little fool a taste or two of the lash, to mend his manners."
1685, William Temple, Of Gardens:[they] therefore thought all the Service they could do to the State they live under, was to mend the Lives and Manners of particular Men that composed it
- To quicken
c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating.
- (transitive) To help, to advance, to further; to add to.
1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. , 2nd edition, London: J H for H Mortlock , and J Robinson , published 1708, →OCLC:Though in some lands the grass is but short, yet it […] mends garden herbs and fruit.
c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :You mend the jewel by the wearing it.
1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:But my lord was angry, and being disguised with liquor too, he would not let him go till they played more; and play they did, and the luck still went the same way; and my lord grew fierce over it, and cursed and drank, and that did not mend his luck you may be sure […]
- (intransitive) To grow better; to advance to a better state; to become improved.
- August 11 1711, Jonathan Swift, letter to Stella
- We have had terrible rains these two or three days. I intended to dine at lord treasurer's, but went to see lady Abercorn, who is come to town, and my lord; and I dined with them, and visited lord treasurer this evening. His porter is mending.
1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:Some days later it happened that young Heriotside was stepping home over the Lang Muir about ten at night, it being his first jaunt from home since his arm had mended.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to repair
- Albanian: arnoj (sq)
- Arabic: أَصْلَحَ (ʔaṣlaḥa)
- Egyptian Arabic: صلح (ṣallaḥ)
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Bulgarian: поправям (bg) (popravjam)
- Catalan: reparar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 修補/修补 (zh) (xiūbǔ), 修改 (zh) (xiūgǎi), 修理 (zh) (xiūlǐ)
- Czech: opravit (cs), spravit (cs)
- Danish: reparere (da), (informally) fikse
- Dutch: repareren (nl), herstellen (nl)
- Finnish: kunnostaa (fi), korjata (fi), kohentaa (fi), parantaa (fi)
- French: réparer (fr), raccommoder (fr)
- Galician: reparar (gl)
- German: reparieren (de), flicken (de)
- Greek: επισκευάζω (el) (episkevázo)
- Ancient: καταρτίζω (katartízō)
- Hindi: ठीक करना (ṭhīk karnā)
- Hungarian: megjavít (hu)
- Irish: deisigh, ceartaigh
- Italian: riparare (it)
- Japanese: 直す (ja) (なおす, naosu), 修理する (ja) (しゅうりする, shūri suru)
- Korean: 수리하다 (ko) (suri-hada), 고치다 (ko) (gochida)
- Lao: ຊ່ອມ (sǭm)
- Latin: sarciō
- Persian: درست کردن (fa) (dorost kardan)
- Plautdietsch: flekjen
- Polish: naprawiać (pl) impf, naprawić (pl) pf
- Portuguese: consertar (pt), reparar (pt)
- Romanian: repara (ro), drege (ro)
- Russian: исправля́ть (ru) impf (ispravljátʹ), испра́вить (ru) pf (isprávitʹ), чини́ть (ru) impf (činítʹ), почини́ть (ru) pf (počinítʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: càirich
- Spanish: remendar (es), emendar, reparar (es)
- Swahili: kutengeneza
- Swedish: reparera (sv)
- Thai: ซ่อม (th) (sɔ̂m)
- Turkish: onarmak (tr), tamir etmek (tr)
- Ukrainian: ла́годити (uk) impf (láhodyty), пола́годити pf (poláhodyty)
- Urdu: ٹھیک کرنا (ṭhīk karnā)
- Vietnamese: sửa chữa (vi)
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to repair a tear in clothing
- Bulgarian: кърпя (kǎrpja)
- Danish: lappe
- Finnish: paikata (fi)
- French: rapiécer (fr)
- Galician: remendar
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- Hungarian: javít (hu), megjavít (hu), foltoz (hu), megfoltoz (hu), befoltoz (hu), összevarr (hu), megstoppol (hu), felszed (hu)
- Italian: rammendare (it)
- Latin: sarciō
- Maori: tapi, tapitapi, pāpaki
- Ottoman Turkish: یامامق (yamamak)
- Polish: cerować (pl) impf, zacerować pf
- Portuguese: remendar (pt)
- Russian: зашивать (ru) (zašivatʹ), заштопывать (ru) (zaštopyvatʹ)
- Spanish: remendar (es)
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: yamamak (tr)
- Vietnamese: vá (vi), khâu (vi)
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to help, to advance, to further; to add to
to grow better; to advance to a better state; to become improved
Translations to be checked
Related terms
Further reading
- “mend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “mend”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “mend”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Albanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin mentem.
Noun
mend
- mind
Derived terms
Further reading
- “mend”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language] (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
- “mend”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛnt/
- Rhymes: -ɛnt
- Syllabification: mend
Noun
mend
- genitive plural of menda