c. 1200, "to repair" (clothes, a tool, a building), "remove defects" (from something broken, defaced, deranged, or worn), from a shortened form of Old French amender "correct, set right, make better, improve" (see amend). Meaning "to put right, atone for (faults and errors), amend (one's life), repent" is from c. 1300. Intransitive sense of "to grow better, improve" is from late 14c. Related: Mended; mending.

early 14c., "recompense, reparation," a shortened form of amends. Sense of "a remedy, cure" (now obsolete) is from mid-14c., from mend (v.). Meaning "act of mending; a repaired hole or rip in fabric" is from 1888. Phrase on the mend "on the path to recovering from sickness, improving in condition" is attested by 1802.

"capable of being mended," 1530s, from mend (v.) + -able.

"one who or that which repairs or mends," late 14c., agent noun from mend (v.). Originally especially "one who corrects what is wrong, a moral guide."

early 13c., amenden, "to free from faults, rectify," from Old French amender "correct, set right, make better, improve" (12c.), from Latin emendare "to correct, free from fault," from ex "out" (see ex-) + menda, mendum "fault, physical blemish; error," from PIE *mend- "physical defect, fault" (source also of Sanskrit minda "physical blemish," Old Irish mennar "stain, blemish," Welsh mann "sign, mark;" Hittite mant- "something harming").

The spelling with a- is unusual but early and also is found in Provençal and Italian. In English, the word has been supplanted in senses of "repair; cure" by its shortened offspring mend (v.). The meaning "to add to legislation" (ostensibly to correct or improve it) is recorded from 1777. Related: Amended; amending.

"to cover with putty, mend or join with putty," 1734, from putty (n.). Related: Puttied; puttying.

"to mend (fabric) by interweaving yarn or thread to fill a rent or hole," c. 1600, of unknown origin. Perhaps from French darner "mend," from darne "a piece, a slice," from Breton darn "piece, fragment, part." Alternative etymology is from obsolete dern "secret, hidden." Related: Darned; darning.

c. 1400, pecen, "to mend (clothing) by adding pieces," from piece (n.1). Sense of "to join, unite or reunite, put together again" is from late 15c. Related: Pieced; piecing.

"to mend, put back in order, restore to a sound, good, or complete condition," mid-14c., reparen, from Old French reparer "repair, mend" (12c.) and directly from Latin reparare "restore, put back in order," from re- "again" (see re-) + parare "make ready, prepare" (from PIE root *pere- (1) "to produce, procure").

The sense of "make amends for injury by an equivalent, make good" is by 1560s. Related: Repaired; repairing.

late 15c., "to mend or patch" (especially shoes or boots), perhaps a back-formation from cobbler (n.1), or from cob, via a notion of lumps. Meaning "to put together clumsily" is from 1580s. Related: Cobbled; cobbling.