Definition of "fender"

fender

/ˈfɛnd.ə(ɹ)/

noun
plural fenders
1. (US) panel of a car which encloses the wheel area, especially the front wheels.
2. (US) a shield, usually of plastic or metal, on a bicycle that protects the rider from mud or water
3. (nautical) any shaped cushion-like object normally made from polymers, rubber or wood that is placed along the sides of a boat to prevent damage when moored alongside another vessel or jetty, or when using a lock, etc. Modern variations are cylindrical although older wooden version and rubbing strips can still be found; old tyres are used as a cheap substitute
4. a low metal framework in front of a fireplace, intended to catch hot coals, soot, and ash
  Quotations
  Now and then he would make a motion with his feet as if he were running quickly backward upstairs, and would tread on the edge of the fender, so that the fire-irons went flying and the buttered-bun dishes crashed against each other in the hearth.
  1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, I [Uniform ed., p. 12]
  Our solid, shiny chairs, our immense, dingy sofas, our heavy mahogany tables and our cast-iron fenders, often bearing the initials of long-dead railway companies, likewise our plaster walls of chocolate and duck-egg green and our hissing gasoliers have their roots deep in our national history.
  1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 357
verb
third-person singular simple present fenders, present participle fendering, simple past and past participle fendered
1. (nautical) To use fenders to protect the side of a boat