To wend means to go in a particular direction, usually in a slow, indirect, or winding way. When you wend your way through a crowded hallway at school, you're not walking in a straight line but weaving around groups of students and backpacks. A river wends through the countryside, curving and bending as it flows.

The word has an old-fashioned, almost poetic feeling to it. You might read in a story about travelers wending their way through a forest, moving carefully along a twisting path. A parade might wend through town streets, turning corners and following a route that lets everyone see it.

Wend suggests a journey with patience and purpose rather than rushing directly to a destination. When hikers wend up a mountain trail, they follow the switchbacks and curves rather than trying to climb straight up. The word captures that sense of getting somewhere by taking the path as it comes, even when that path isn't perfectly direct.