[f. FEND v. + -ER.]
1. = DEFENDER. Obs. exc. dial.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1839. Þe fendere of grece.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 155. Fendowre, or defendowre.
1678. Four for a Penny, 3. He [a Pawnbroker] is … the Common Fender of all Bulkers and Shoplifts in the Town.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Fender, a defender in all senses.
2. Something that serves to fend or keep off something else. a. in gen. sense.
1615. E. S., Britains Buss, in Arb., Garner, III. 627. Fenders or long poles.
1825. Ann. Reg., 247*. This bone constitutes a fin, or fender.
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), I. iv. 31–2. The north western tribes are all armed with the bow and lance, and protected with the shield or arrow fender, which is carried outside of the left arm, exactly as the Roman and Grecian shield was carried, and for the same purpose.
1864. Sala, in Daily Tel., 29 July. The coal bunkers … in a state of repletion are the best kind of ‘fenders’ for the protection of the boilers from shot and shell.
1882. Buckland, Notes & Jottings, 159. The loose feathers of the neck forming a fender to the shoulder of the wing.
1893. Mary Cholmondeley, Diana Tempest, in Temple Bar Mag., XCVIII. Aug., 468. Presently she moved away with Lord Frederick in the direction of Madeleine, who had installed herself at the further end of the room among the fenders, as our latter-day youth gracefully designates the tiaras of the chaperones.
b. Naut. A piece of old cable, or other yielding material, hung over a vessel’s side to preserve it from chafing or collision with a wharf or with other vessels. Also (see quot. 1850).
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 16. They serue for Iunkes, fendors and braded plackets for brests of defence. Ibid. (1627), Seaman’s Gram., vii. 30. Fenders are peeces of old Hawsers called Iunkes hung ouer the ship sides to keepe them from brusing.
1821. A. Fisher, Jrnl. Arctic Reg., 34. We were obliged to put fenders of junk over the ship’s side to prevent her from being damaged by the ice.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 117. Fenders. Two pieces of oak plank fayed edgewise, perpendicularly, against the topsides abreast the main hatchway, to prevent the sides of the ship from being rubbed by the hoisting of anything on board.
1885. Runciman, Skippers and Shellbacks, 212. A sailor slipped a cork fender over the side.
c. A large piece of timber placed as a guard in front of any structure, esp. a pier, dock-wall, etc. Also fender-pile (see 7).
1739. C. Labelye, A Short Account … of Westminster Bridge, 19. The Use of these Fenders, or Guard Piles, was to secure the Works from the Approach of Barges, and other large Vessels.
1838. Simms, Public Wks. Gt. Brit., ii. 7. The wing walls at the head and tail of the lock are defended by detached guards or fenders of timber.
1856. in Brees, Terms Archit., etc.
1892. Daily News, 27 Oct., 2/6. The wheel of his van struck a fender immediately outside some hoarding.
d. In various other technical uses (see quots.).
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., Fender. 4. an attachment to a cultivator-plow to keep clods from rolling on to the young corn. 5. A rub-plate on the bed of a wagon or carriage to take the rub of the wheel when the vehicle is turning short. Ibid. (1884), Suppl., Fender, a screen against a carriage or car-step to keep dirt or mud from being thrown upon it by the wheels. A fender board.
e. See quot. Cf. FENCE 4 c.
1894. M. Grant, in Cent. Mag., XLVII. 352/2. The double fenders or brow-antlers [of the moose] do the most damage.
3. A metal frame placed in front of a fire to keep falling coals from rolling out into the room.
1688. Miege, Fr. Dict., Fender.
1710. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 24 Dec. Only a mouse within the fender to warm himself.
1765. Layard, in Phil. Trans., LVI. 17. An iron fender.
1834. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 11. She actually borrowed one of the brass fenders the other day, and I had difficulty in getting it out of her hands.
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., xxx. Sitting with our feet on the fender.
b. A fire-guard. ? U.S.
1874. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
c. Building. ‘A dwarf wall in the basement of a house, built up to carry the front hearth of a fireplace’ (Gwilt).
4. A sluice-gate. Sometimes applied to the whole sluice.
1847. C. G. Addison, Law of Contracts, II. i. § i. (1883), 248. A sliding fender used to prevent the escape of water from a mill-stream.
1868. Law Reports, Q. Bench Div. III. 289. In that part of the dam … is placed a fender or set of fenders.
1884. Daily News, 23 July, 5/2. The paddler of a canoe got sucked under a fender into a swift stream.
5. A device made of rushes, leaves, or plaited paper, with which seals were sometimes encircled to secure them from injury.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., xxiv. § 1 (ed. 3), 399. Various ingenious devices were employed for securing the wax from injury, by encircling the impression with ‘fenders’ formed of rushes, leaves, or plaited paper. ‘Fenders’ of this kind have been found attached to Seals as early as 1380.
1891. J. P. Earwaker, in Proc. Soc. Antiq., 19 Feb., 255. The seal is … protected by a twisted rush fender.
6. (See quot.) ? Obs.
1682. J. Collins, Salt & Fishery, 14. A scurf or Crust may be begotten by the heat and vigour of the Sun, which is afterwards raked up into heapes and carried in wicker Baskets or Fenders to Brine Wells, where powring Sea-liquor to it, it carries away the salish humour, and leaves most of the sand behind.
7. attrib. and Comb., as fender-maker; fender-beam, (a) (see quot. 1874); (b) = fender-stop; fender-board (see quot. 1884 in sense 2 d); fender-bolt Naut., (a) (see quot. 1867), (b) a bolt by which a fender is attached to a ship, etc.; fender-pile = FENDER sb. 2 c; fender-post (see quot.); fender-stool, a kind of long footstool usually placed close to the fender; fender-stop (see quot.).
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Fender-beam. 1. The horizontal beam into which the posts of a saw-mill gate are framed at top…. 2. The inclined advance piece of an ice-breaker. 3. A beam suspended over a vessel’s side to ward off ice and preserve the planking and sheathing of the vessel.
1678. A. Littleton, Lat. Dict., s.v. *Fender-bolts.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Gb. Fender-bolts, being driven into the wales, stem, or sides of some small vessels … to defend their timber-work, from the shock of any other vessels which may fall aboard by accident.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Fender Bolts.
1891. Daily News, 26 Jan., 2/5. The season has been a busy one for *fender and fire-iron makers.
1739. C. Labelye, A Short Account … of Westminster Bridge, 36. The *Fender-piles which guarded the North-point of this Pier.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 224. Fixing the Fender Piles on the east side of the rock.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Fender-piles.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Fender-post. One of the guiding stanchions of a saw-gate.
1870. Miss Broughton, Red as Rose, I. xiii. 260. Let me put you down in the raffle for a *fender-stool; so handsome! white arums on a red ground.
1856. Brees, Terms Archit., etc., *Fender Stop, the beams fixed at the extremity of a line of rails … to stop the carriages and prevent their running off.
