Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) the posterior, the buttocks.

1967

J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 33: I [...] caught sight of your broad bundoon sticking out from that salt bush.

to consent to buggery.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 70/1: C.19–20.

(W.I., Jam.) a row of roadside peddlers, specializing in items that are hard to get in shops, because of import restrictions.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(Aus./US) to work hard.

1935

L. Hughes Mulatto in Three Negro Plays (1969) Act I: Driving off in the middle of the day, after I’ve told him to bend his back in that cotton.

to have a drink; thus elbow-bending, drinking.

1877		Bismarck Wkly Trib. (ND) 21 Apr. 1/1: It makes a man weary to be compelled to wind up a clothes line over his hand and elbow [...] yet he will go into a gin mill and unweariedly bend his elbow for hours.
1879		St Landy Democrat (Opelousa, LA) 10 May 1/3: [He] got hold of that bewitched bottle, raised it and began in truly artistic style to bend his elbow.
1886		St Paul Dly Globe (MN) 24 May 1/4: He is inclined to bend his elbow too often.
1904		Everybody’s Mag. 11 797/2: ‘The best thing for old fellows like us to do is to keep bending our elbows’ — by which he meant, to keep on drinking.
1918		Perthshire Advertiser 17 July 2/4: None of the jolly amateur sea dogs attempted to ‘bend his elbow’ till he was [...] on ‘terra firma’.
1921		C.S. Montanye ‘The Bounding Violet’ in Top Notch 15 Aug. 🌐 What’s this carnival thing you were telling me about when we were bending elbows?
1928		V. Palmer Passage 142: Been bending his elbow a bit too much lately, I reckon.
c.1935		in W.C. Fields By Himself (1974) 155: The least I can do is to toast to your health and happyness, so time out, old pal – while I bend my elbow to you.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 227: Bending an elbow in his everlastingly cheerful and malicious toast, ‘Here’s mud in the eye of Willie Givens’.
1969		A. Buzo Rooted I iii: Might bump into Davo up there. He’s been known to bend an elbow at the Arms.
1993		R. Firestone Swing, Swing, Swing 75: [T]hey repaired to the Onyx to pick up their mail and telephone messages, talk shop and bend an elbow or two.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 134: Other terms include [...] going for a gargle; and bending the elbow.

1. to submit to, to lay oneself open; the image is of submitting to buggery, but the popular use is less specific.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 26/1: Bend over. (P) To serve as a passive pederast. ‘I’ll bend you over,’ connotes the utmost in contemptuous threats.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 298: Maybe you think I bend over for dogs and horses, or anything with a prick?
1979		Maledicta III:2 231: He also may or may not know the following words and expressions: [...] backs, bang, bend over (Navy: drop the soap in the shower), bindle, boody.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 282: The discordant sounds of her friend Swinging Bollocks with his Bendover Boys.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 9: They’re bendin’ over for it Riz.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 32: They will bend over for whitey and let him stick his finger up their ass just so they can wear a 10 cent badge.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 37: Randy Everhard does not bend over and thank you for fucking him up the ass.
2004		Simon & Burns ‘Mission Accomplished’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 12 [TV script] What part of bend over didn’t you understand?

2. to be sodomized, to sodomize .

1964		E. Shrake But Not For Love 157: ‘Go play with Guthrie. Bend over and let him enjoy you. If you’re not a man, let’s quit kidding about it’.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 112: I refused to bend over - and still refuse!

3. (also b.o.) to get into difficulties, to be put at a disadvantage; also as an excl. bend over! you’re bothering me!

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 35: bend over to get messed up, screwed [...] Bend over!/B.O.! You’re bothering me! You suck! Get a life!
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 39: usage You’ve really fucked up this time, Cadet Jones. Bend over and take it like a man!

4. to make a confession to the police.

1986

R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 91: We got crank calls pouring in, some from gazoonies threatening to blow his fucking head off for bending over.

to go out of one’s way to do something, usu. altruistically.

1919		Oregon Voter 17 215/1: He directed his mill, the Portland Flouring Mills Co., to bend over backwards in avoiding high profits.
1932		W. Thurman Infants of the Spring 215: Whites who invade Harlem and who bend over backwards making themselves agreeable.
1977		G.F. Newman Villain’s Tale 159: ‘They’re well fitting you, Jack,’ Tully said from the cubicle immediately in front of Lynn. ‘And that fucking judge is bending over backwards to help them.’.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 70/1: since late 1920s.
2001		Guardian 2 Sept. 🌐 It is obviously churlish not to fall over backwards in praise of Australia.
2002		Guardian 24 Jul. 🌐 Now the government, to the applause of the Tories, leans over backwards to deprive trade unionists of their remedies in the tribunals.
2002		Guardian 3 Dec. 🌐 In an age when public figures bend over backwards to invent media-friendly images, she’s remained constant.

(US gay) to have anal intercourse.

1989–2003

R.O. Scott Gay Sl. Dict. 🌐 anal intercourse: [...] Syn: bend some ham.

(UK prison) to beat up.

1998

J. Hoskison Inside 36: You gotta move quicker than that [...] You’ll get bent up if you don’t.

to catch someone at a disadvantage.

1910

Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 101: Our revered chief would be more or less caught bending.

(US tramp) to solicit for handouts in front of a theatre or restaurant.

1935

News (Frederick, MD) 15 Feb. 4/8: ‘Doing a bendover’ is a popular form of mute solicitation; it means standing a dejected posture in front of theaters and restaurants.