rend

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
rend
    v 1: tear or be torn violently; "The curtain ripped from top to
         bottom"; "pull the cooked chicken into strips" [syn:
         {rend}, {rip}, {rive}, {pull}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Rend \Rend\, v. i.
   To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.
   --Jer. Taylor.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Rend \Rend\ (r[e^]nd), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rent} (r[e^]nt); p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Rending}.] [AS. rendan, hrendan; cf. OFries.
   renda, randa, Fries. renne to cut, rend, Icel. hrinda to
   push, thrust, AS. hrindan; or cf. Icel. r[ae]na to rob,
   plunder, Ir. rannaim to divide, share, part, W. rhanu, Armor.
   ranna.]
   1. To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to
      tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock
      in blasting; lightning rends an oak.
      [1913 Webster]

            The dreadful thunder
            Doth rend the region.                 --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force.
      [1913 Webster]

            An empire from its old foundations rent. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

            I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. --1 Kings
                                                  xi. 11.
      [1913 Webster]

   {To rap and rend}. See under {Rap}, v. t., to snatch.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To tear; burst; break; rupture; lacerate; fracture;
        crack; split.
        [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
134 Moby Thesaurus words for "rend":
      abrade, afflict, amputate, atomize, ax, badger, bark, bisect,
      blackmail, blemish, bloody, break, break to pieces, burn, butcher,
      carve, chafe, check, chip, chop, claim, claw, cleave, crack, craze,
      cut, cut away, cut in two, cut off, demand, demolish, dichotomize,
      disassemble, disintegrate, dismantle, dissever, distress, divide,
      exact, excise, extort, fissure, force from, fracture, fragment,
      fray, frazzle, fret, gall, gash, hack, halve, hew, hurt, incise,
      injure, jigsaw, lacerate, lance, levy blackmail, maim,
      make mincemeat of, mangle, maul, mutilate, pain, pare,
      pick to pieces, pierce, prune, pry loose from, pull in pieces,
      pull to pieces, pulverize, puncture, reduce to rubble, rend from,
      rip, rip from, rive, run, rupture, savage, saw, scald, scissor,
      scorch, scotch, scrape, scratch, screw, scuff, separate, sever,
      shake down, shatter, shred, skin, slash, slice, slit, smash, smite,
      snatch from, snip, split, sprain, squeeze, stab, stick, strain,
      sunder, take apart, tear, tear apart, tear from, tear to pieces,
      tear to shreds, tear to tatters, torment, total, traumatize,
      unbuild, undo, unmake, whittle, wound, wrack up, wreck, wrench,
      wrench from, wrest, wring, wring from

    

grant@antiflux.org