Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To proceed on or along; go.
  • intransitive verb To go one's way; proceed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • l. To turn; change.
  • To direct (one's way or course); proceed upon.
  • l. To turn; make a turn; go round; veer.
  • To take one's way or course; proceed; go.
  • To pass away; disappear; depart; vanish.
  • noun Obsolete preterits of ween.
  • noun A name applied in early times by the Germans to their Slavic neighbors.
  • noun A member of a branch of the Slavic race dwelling in Lusatia: same as Sorb.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • p. p. of wene.
  • transitive verb To direct; to betake; -- used chiefly in the phrase to wend one's way. Also used reflexively.
  • intransitive verb To go; to pass; to betake one's self.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To turn round.
  • noun (O. Eng. Law), obsolete A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, obsolete To turn; change.
  • verb transitive To direct (one's way or course); pursue one's way; proceed upon some course or way.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To turn; make a turn; go round; veer.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To pass away; disappear; depart; vanish.
  • noun obsolete, UK, law A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb direct one's course or way

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English wenden, from Old English wendan ("to turn, direct, wend one’s way, go, return, change, alter, vary, restore, happen, convert, translate"), from Proto-Germanic *wandijanan (“to turn”), causative of Proto-Germanic *windanan (“to wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”). Cognate with Dutch wenden ("to turn"), German wenden ("to turn, reverse"), Danish vende ("to turn"), Swedish vända ("to turn, turn over, veer, direct"), Icelandic venda ("to wend, turn, change"), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wandjan, "to cause to turn"). Related to wind.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word wend.

Examples

  • Economic stimulus money is just starting to wend its way here, and Obama has not tackled broad healthcare reform, a critical campaign promise for a region with one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the country.

    Sunday Reading 2009

  • You may never have heard of it, but this statute enabled 15 presidents to take swift action to protect Americans' lands when they were in jeopardy, without waiting for legislation to wend its way through Congress.

    Rep. John Garamendi: Millions of Acres of Land You Inherited are at Risk Rep. John Garamendi 2011

  • First, the radical transformation of the US economy, by whatever means necessary, then it will take years for all the constitutional challenges to wend their way through the judicial labyrinth.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Tushnet on Lithwick’s Lament 2010

  • For the most part, however, readers are left to wend their way through an often beguiling maze of digression, reminiscence, yakety-yak erudition and occasional unreliability.

    Stranger In a Strange Land Andrew Stuttaford 2011

  • As evening approaches, we wend our way back home, to supper, bath and bedtime stories.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grandmothers Jack Canfield 2011

  • Most drivers that wend their way down the north side of the River Thames in West London will barely have noticed them.

    Streets on the Thames Charlie Corbett 2011

  • Though many of the lawyers stopped attending after Mr. Rifaat barred television cameras from the courtroom the following week, there are still more than 80 prosecuting attorneys working on the case who are trying to wend their way through the complex charges against the 10 defendants.

    Mubarak Prosecutors Face Criticism Matt Bradley 2012

  • The heat and air condition requirements vary between galleries, so visitors wend through different temperature zones, time periods and continents until they arrive at the exhibit's opening image: a shimmering white gown constructed out of razor clam shells juxtaposed with a blood-red dress with a bodice made of dyed microscope slides and ostrich feathers.

    Not Since the 'Mona Lisa'... Sophia Hollander 2011

  • "I leave them that way because it reminds me of my father," he says while we wend our way through levels of interior spaces suffused with a subaqueous light that filters through the Maison's famous glass-brick facade and spreads across the ivory rubberized floor.

    The Court of Modernism Alastair Gordon 2011

  • Today's court hearing is an early step in the case against Jared Loughner that could take years to wend its way through the criminal justice system.

    Giffords suspect Loughner faces Monday hearing 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.