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Glite Dictionary
Big Bend

Big Bend

1 3.4
A region in the southwest of Texas shaped by a large bend in the Rio Grande
  • proper noun
  • /bɪɡ bɛnd/
translation icon : Big Bend
  • Visitors flock to see the stunning landscapes of Big Bend National Park in Texas.
  • Big Bend National Park
  • Big Bend region
  • wilderness at Big Bend

Examples

  • The famous Big Bend region offers breathtaking views along the Rio Grande.

  • As Figure 3 shows, chasing occurred as far north as Great Bend, Kansas, as far west as Capulin, New Mexico, and as far southwest as Fort Stockton, near the Big Bend region of West Texas.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The Gulf Coast of the panhandle is also uniquely varied, with the most biodiversity in the eastern Big Bend, where seagrass meadows thrive.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Florida's Big Bend, which extends beyond the panhandle all the way south to the Withlacoochee River, has one of the largest seagrass bed areas in the world and is encompassed almost entirely by publicly owned lands.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The proposed greenway from Apalachicola to Eglin Air Force Base, Keller says, will create a corridor of wilderness and conservation lands that stretches from Florida's Big Bend to Alabama.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Many hikers explore the trails in Big Bend, experiencing its unique desert environment.

Surface Forms

Big Bend main

Morphology

big + bend

The name 'Big Bend' is a literal, descriptive toponym made from 'big' + 'bend' and directly refers to a large curve (here, in a river). A B1 learner who knows both words can reasonably infer it denotes an area defined by a large bend, and such place-naming from physical features is cross-linguistically common, so the meaning is compositional rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

Big Bend comes from the very large curve the Rio Grande makes there. People used the clear picture of a big bend in the river to name the whole 'region', so today the name means that area of Texas.