bend

I hear the train a comin'/It's rolling round the bend

A simpler version of the common bend with its ends in the same direction is used to join binder twine in a hay baling machine.

A diver who stays deep for too long must ascend very slowly in order to prevent the bends.

Perhaps the most celebrated coat of arms is that of Scrope, which is Azure a bend Or. This is the coat over which, from 1385 to 1390, Sir Robert le Grosvenor and Sir Richard le Scrope invoked the High Court of Chivalry to decide which of them had the right to bear these arms. Chaucer gave evidence before the court. In the end the arms were awarded to Scrope, and Grosvenor was ordered to difference with a bordure Argent. This he disdained to do, and being highly dissatisfied with the verdict he appealed to Richard II who altered the decision of the court by refusing to allow the bend to Grosvenor at all! Grosvenor then adopted a garb, or sheaf of corn.

Farewell, poor swain; thou art not for my bend.

the midship bends