wend

[wend]

verb (used with object), wend·ed or (Archaic) went; wend·ing.

to pursue or direct (one's way).

verb (used without object), wend·ed or (Archaic) went; wend·ing.

to proceed or go.

Origin of wend

before 900; Middle English wenden, Old English wendan; cognate with Dutch, German wenden, Gothic wandjan, causative of -windan to wind²

Wend

[wend]

noun

a member of a Slavic people of E Germany; Sorb.

Origin of Wend

1780–90; < German Wende, Old High German Winida; cognate with Old English Winedas (plural)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for wends

meander, saunter, go, travel, journey, pass, proceed, shift, alter

Examples from the Web for wends

Contemporary Examples of wends

The Kidron Valley wends its way from the eastern side of the Old City, through the Judean Desert, to the Dead Sea.
Losing Jerusalem Sewage Plant Could Prove Longer Term Win for Palestinians
Hillel Cohen
September 13, 2013

Historical Examples of wends

For a distance of seven miles it wends its way amongst the mountains.
Peeps at Many Lands: Norway
A.F. Mockler-Ferryman
Which threw King Mistevoi into a paroxysm, and raised the Wends.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol, II. (of XXI.)
Thomas Carlyle
To the castle bridge she wends her way, And watches the ships in the sound that lay.
Finnish Arts
Anonymous
Right life, for me, is life that wends By lowly ways to lofty ends.
The Victories of Love
Coventry Patmore
He had the thought to preach to the Wends, but this was not to be.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II)
Henry Osborn Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for wends

wend

verb

to direct (one's course or way); travelwend one's way home

Word Origin for wend

Old English wendan; related to Old High German wenten, Gothic wandjan; see wind ²

Wend

noun

(esp in medieval European history) a Sorb; a member of the Slavonic people who inhabited the area between the Rivers Saale and Oder in the early Middle Ages and were conquered by Germanic invaders by the 12th centurySee also Lusatia

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for wends

Wend

member of a Slavic people of eastern Germany, 1610s (implied in Wendish), from German Wende, from Old High German Winida, related to Old English Winedas "Wends," ultimately from Celt. *vindo- "white."

wend

"to proceed on," Old English wendan "to turn, go," from Proto-Germanic *wandijanan (cf. Old Saxon wendian, Old Norse venda, Old Frisian wenda, Dutch wenden, German wenden, Gothic wandjan "to turn"), causative of Old English windan "to turn, twist" (see wind (v.)), from root *wand-, *wend- "turn." Surviving only in to wend one's way, and in hijacked past tense form went.