Talk:fend

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fend

"To take care or responsibility for oneself." This is what fend for oneself means, but does fend mean this by itself? Kappa 00:38, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

google books:"to fend as" date:2000-2008 has more than enough cites to meet RFV. My impression from various searches that I tried is that (deprecated template usage) fend might be used in this sense only when there's something attached to it that kind of gets in the way of the "for oneself", if you know what I mean. (I really can't say for sure, though. b.g.c. is a decent tool for finding cites, but a less-decent tool for discerning patterns of use.) —Ruakh_TALK 02:02, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Good cite. fend seems to be in a small number (three?) of possible constructions for most of its usage. I wonder if it has much non-literary usage apart from the three idiomatic or set phrase constructions. DCDuring TALK 02:13, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Well, more than three constructions, but not too many more. It also sometimes appears as "'fend" as if it were a more current dialect abbreviation of "defend" rather than a 600+ year-old one as the etymology reported in Middle English dictionaries suggests. DCDuring TALK 16:51, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Please consider this 1867 definition: "an aphæresis from defend; to ward off." In boating, to fend - to prevent from touching or harming; fender - an object placed between the vessel and something to prevent abrasion or harm. Last has a similar use in automobiles. - Amgine/^talk 22:39, 13 September 2008 (UTC)