Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rend

Rend (rend) , transitive verb

[Anglo-Saxon rendan, hrendan; compare OFries. renda, randa, Fries. renne to cut, rend, Icelandic hrinda to push, thrust, Anglo-Saxon hrindan; or compare Icelandic rana to rob, plunder, Ir. rannaim to divide, share, part, Welsh 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.
The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. — Shakespeare
2.
To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force.
An empire from its old foundations rent. — Dryden
I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. — 1 Kings xi. 11
Collocations (1)
To rap and rend , See under Rap, transitive verb, to snatch.

Rend , intransitive verb

To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split. — Jer. Taylor