bentwood

Noun

bentwood (countable and uncountable, plural bentwoods)

1. (attributive, sometimes) Lengths of wood that have been made pliable by heating with steam and then bent into the appropriate shape (to make furniture, ships' hulls, etc.).
   • About this time [Michael] Thonet received his first major public commission from the famous Cafe Daum in Vienna. From this point on, the bentwood chair would be known by many as the Cafe Chair[…]. The back is made of four layers of twisted mahogany laminates, while the front legs appear to be bent...1985, “Michael Thonet”, in Fine Woodworking on Bending Wood: 35 Articles Selected by the Editors of Fine Woodworking Magazine, Newtown, Ct.: Taunton Press, →ISBN, page 56
   • Bentwood furniture is made by bending and nailing long, straight, fresh branches or suckers of trees around a frame. Unlike most stick work, bentwood furniture is carefully planned before it is made.1992, Daniel Mack, “Contemporary Styles of Rustic Furniture”, in Making Rustic Furniture, New York, N.Y.: Lark Books, →ISBN, page 42
2. (countable) An object, especially a piece of furniture, made from bentwood.
   • The two basic types of fishhooks are almost equally represented within the site, with composite fishhooks exhibiting only a slightly higher relative frequency than that of bentwoods.1980, Dale R. Croes, Eric Blinman, editors, Hoko River: A 2500 Year Old Fishing Camp on the Northwest Coast of North America (Reports of Investigations (Washington State University. Laboratory of...
   • She started walking over to the trestle table and, about ten years later, sat down on one of the thirty-three bentwoods.1985, “‘Do I Love You? How Do You Mean?’”, in The New Yorker, volume 61, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, page 45