depend
verbUK /dɪˈpɛnd/ · US /dɪˈpɛnd/
Etymology From Middle English dependen, from Old French dependre and Latin dependeō, from Latin dē- + pendeō (“to hang”). In this sense, displaced native Old English hangian (“to hang or depend”).
1
To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition
- We would like to go skiing, but it depends on the amount of snow.
- Gold don't carry any curse with it. It all depends on whether or not the guy who finds it is the right guy. The way I see it, gold can be as much of a blessing as a curse1948, John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, spoken by Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart):
2
To trust; to have confidence; to rely.
- we should all be able to depend on the word or assurance of our friends
- we depend on the mailman to come at the usual time.
1 more example
- "It's another wedding present, you may depend," Dicky said—"a beastly surprise, I shouldn't wonder."1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC:
3
Government, Heraldry, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Monarchy, Nobility, Politics Literary To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above, especially in heraldry, where a badge, decoration, or element is suspended from another part of an achievement of arms.
- The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows.1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
- In the centre is an Imperial Crown, from which depend a Harp of gold and the Badge.1893, John Edwin Cussen (1837–1899), Handbook of Heraldry, 4th edition, London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, via Internet Archive (UC Berkeley), page 247:
4 more examples
- Bronze chandeliers with many globes depended from the low, slightly vaulted ceiling, and the fresco paintings ran flat and dull all round the walls without windows, representing scenes of the chase and of outdoor revelry in medieval costumes.1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent:
- He had prepared a sort of collar of leather with many straps depending from it.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- Besides, if you worked up to be a cadet officer, you got to wear a Sam Browne belt, from which depended a nifty saber.1982, Paul Fussell, My War:
- At the wedding feast of Agnes and Bob, all was meant for the best, and there was grewat good humour, but there was also a stiffness, a constraint. It did not touch them: Agnes was radiant in a gown of white silksand laces which would not have disgraced the Castle itself, her fair hair bound and coiled after the fashion of that year, and wearing her father's special gift to her, a necklace of interwoven gold and silver from which depended a fiery stone, intricately cut, and housed within elaborate gold, thin-hammered.1988, Thomas Flanagan, novel: The Tenants of Time chapter 13
4
Archaic To be pending; to be undetermined or undecided.
- a cause depending in court
- While the Bishops Affair was depending, the King sent orders [...]1703, The History Of King William The Third. In III Parts:
2 more examples
- In perjury, the capias, warrant, and affidavit, are good evidence that a cause was depending.1836, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench:
- "A Letter of the King sent to his Proctors at Rome, concerning a Case of his in the said Court depending."1837, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, page 544:
5
To cause to be contingent or dependent on; to set as a necessity.
- There he wilted, obviously depending the disposal of his person and his plight on Bradly, and expecting that to be done at once, too.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:
- Derived terms
- as if one's life depends on it, dependability, dependable, dependancy, dependant, dependee, dependence, dependent, depender, dependingly, depending on, depends who's asking, interdepend, it depends, like one's life depended on it, undepending, where you stand depends on where you sit
- Related terms
- depending