fend
part of speech
verb (fend, fends, fended, fending); phrasal verbs fend for, fend off
meaning for a pupil
1) To fend for yourself is to look after yourself without help. tree →
2) To fend off someone or something is to push it away or defend yourself against it. tree →
3) (rugby) A fend or hand-off is pushing away a tackler with your arm. tree →
sense in the lessons
Everyday life and stories: young animals learning to fend for themselves, fending off an attack, fending off questions. Phrases: fend for yourself, fend off.
examples
- Baby turtles must fend for themselves from the start. tree →
- When Mum was ill, we had to fend for ourselves at dinner time. tree →
- The knight fended off the dragon with his shield. tree →
- She fended off the reporters' questions. tree →
- The goalkeeper fended off a hard shot. tree →
- Fox cubs learn to fend for themselves by autumn. tree →
- The following morning, instead of one, three cows stood on the island, and they all ate seaweed and fended for themselves like the first one. tree →
note
Almost always used as «fend for» or «fend off». Related: defend, fender (car bumper in the US; fireguard in the UK).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «fend» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.