bentwood

American  

[bent-wood] / ˈbɛntˌwʊd /

noun

1. wood steamed and bent for use in furniture.

2. an article of furniture made of bentwood.

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adjective

1. of or relating to furniture made principally of pieces of wood of circular or oval section, steamed, bent, and screwed together.

   a bentwood rocking chair.

bentwood British  

/ ˈbɛntˌwʊd /

noun

1. 1. wood bent in moulds after being heated by steaming, used mainly for furniture

   2. ( as modifier )

      a bentwood chair

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Etymology

Origin of bentwood

First recorded in 1860–65; bent ¹ + wood ¹

Example Sentences

By merging then and now, it plunges visitors into a milieu they may know only through a Shaker bentwood box, and it signals that this exhibition aims to explore the relevance of Shaker ideas today.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

I ended up selling our beloved caned bentwood chairs because they just weren't comfortable to sit in for a long time.

From Salon • Aug. 3, 2022

I’m in a room with bentwood stackable folding chairs, and there’s a bemused audience watching a group of large women in rolled-up nylon stockings, playing tubas and trombones.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2021

In her telling, he gathered the pitch from all around the house, placed it into a bentwood box and threw it in the fire.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 21, 2019

It was the same technique that the Coast Salish peoples of the Northwest had used for centuries to fashion bentwood boxes out of single planks of cedar.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown