Formed perhaps from A. S. ban, Teut. been, os, and hef, elevatio; q. the swelling of the bone.
BENSHIE, BENSHI, s. Expl. "Fairy's wife."
Pennant.
It has been observed, that this being, who is still reverenced as the tutelar daemon of ancient Irish families, is of pure Celtic origin, and owes her title to two Gaelic words, Ben and sighean, signifying the head or chief of the fairies. But it seems rather derived from Ir. Gael. ben, bean a woman, said by Obrien to be the root of the Lat. Venus, and sighe, a fairy or hobgoblin.
BENT, s.
1. A coarse kind of grass, growing on hilly ground, S. Agrostis vulgaris, Linn. Common hair-grass.
2. The coarse grass growing on the sea-shore, S. denoting the Triticum juncium, and also the Arundo arenaria.
Lightfoot.
3. The open field, the plain, S.
Douglas.
4. To gae to the bent, to provide for one's safety, to flee from danger, by leaving the haunts of men; as it is also vulgarly said, to tak the cuntrie on his back.
Henrysone.
Teut. biendse; Germ. bintz, bins, a rush, juncus, scirpus; a binden, vincire, quia sportas, sellas, fiscellas, et similia ex juncis conteximus; Wachter.
BENTY, BENTEY, adj. Covered with bent-grass, S.
Monroe's Iles.
To BER on hand.
V. [Bear].
BERBER, s. Barberry, a shrub.
Sir Gawan and Sir Gol.
L. B. berberis, Sw. id.
BERE, s. Noise; also, To Bere.
V. [Beir].