unbent

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un·bend

(ŭn-bĕnd′)

v. un·bent (-bĕnt′), un·bend·ing, un·bends

v.tr.

1. To release from mental tension, strain, or formality; relax.

2. To release (a bow, for example) from flexure or tension.

3. Nautical To untie or loosen (a rope or sail).

4. To straighten (something crooked or bent): unbend a paper clip.

v.intr.

1. To become less tense; relax.

2. To become less strict.

3. To become straight.

un·bend′a·ble adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

unbent

(ʌnˈbɛnt)

the past tense and past participle of unbend

adj

1. not bent or bowed

2. not compelled to yield or give way by force

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Adj.	1.	unbent - not bent; "looking for an unbent nail"; "trees with straight unbent trunks make the best lumber" straight - having no deviations; "straight lines"; "straight roads across the desert"; "straight teeth"; "straight shoulders"
	2.	unbent - erect in posture; "sit straight"; "stood defiantly with unbowed back" unbowed, straight erect, upright, vertical - upright in position or posture; "an erect stature"; "erect flower stalks"; "for a dog, an erect tail indicates aggression"; "a column still vertical amid the ruins"; "he sat bolt upright"

References in classic literature ?

Rostov submissively unbent the corner of his card and, instead of the six thousand he had intended, carefully wrote twenty-one.

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Fourth: Stealing unawares upon the whale in the fancied security of the middle of solitary seas, you find him unbent from the vast corpulence of his dignity, and kitten-like, he plays on the ocean as if it were a hearth.

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The officer mentioned a small place on the coast some twelve miles off, where, unsuspicious and unready, she was lying at anchor, with her sails unbent, painting yards and scraping spars.

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But the complete torpor came at last: the fingers lost their tension, the arms unbent; then the little head fell away from the bosom, and the blue eyes opened wide on the cold starlight.