Found 1 items, similar to the bends.
English → English (gcide) Definition: the bends Bend \Bend\, n. [See Bend, v. t., and cf. Bent, n.] 1. A turn or deflection from a straight line or from the proper direction or normal position; a curve; a crook; as, a slight bend of the body; a bend in a road. [1913 Webster] 2. Turn; purpose; inclination; ends. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Farewell, poor swain; thou art not for my bend. --Fletcher. [1913 Webster] 3. (Naut.) A knot by which one rope is fastened to another or to an anchor, spar, or post. --Totten. [1913 Webster] 4. (Leather Trade) The best quality of sole leather; a butt. See Butt. [1913 Webster] 5. (Mining) Hard, indurated clay; bind. [1913 Webster] 6. pl. (Med.) same as caisson disease. Usually referred to as the bends. [1913 Webster] Bends of a ship, the thickest and strongest planks in her sides, more generally called wales. They have the beams, knees, and foothooks bolted to them. Also, the frames or ribs that form the ship's body from the keel to the top of the sides; as, the midship bend. [1913 Webster] Caisson disease \Cais"son dis*ease"\ (Med.) A disease frequently induced by remaining for some time in an atmosphere of high pressure, as in caissons, diving bells, etc. It is characterized by neuralgic pains and paralytic symptoms. It is caused by the release of bubbles of gas, usually nitrogen, from bodily fluids into the blood and tissues, when a person, having been in an environment with high air pressure, moves to a lower pressure environment too rapidly for the excess dissolved gases to be released through normal breathing. It may be fatal, but can be reversed or alleviated by returning the affected person to a high air pressure, and then gradually decreasing the pressure to allow the gases to be released from the body fluids. It is a danger well known to divers. It is also called the bends and decompression sickness. It can be prevented in divers by a slow return to normal pressure, or by using a breathing mixture of oxygen combined with a gas having low solubility in water, such as helium. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]