f. a catching, in the phrase, var í hendingum með þeim, they came to close quarters, of pursuit, Sturl. ii. 66; varð hann skjótastr ok var þá í hendingum með þeim Sveini, Orkn. 336, Grett. 136 new Ed.

2. adverb. hendingum, by chance; veita ansvör sem hendingum væri, Barl. 143; whence the mod. af hendingu, by hap, by chance, cp. Dan. hændelse = a chance, hap.

II. metric. rhymes; the ancient double rhymes were both placed in the same line, so as to ‘catch’ one another: distinction is made between an aðal-henda (a full rhyme) and a skot-henda (a half rhyme), thus in Fastorðr skyli fyrða | fengsæll vera þengill,—‘orð fyrð’ are half rhymes, ‘feng þeng’ full rhymes; the first rhyming syllable in the verse (as orð feng) was called frum-hending, head-rhyme, the second (as fyrð þeng) viðr-hending, after-rhyme; if the head-rhyme (as feng in the second verse line above) was placed as the initial syllable it was called odd-hending, edge-rhyme; if in the middle (as orð in the first line), hlut-hending, chance-rhyme, see Edda (Ht.) 121, Skálda 178; the phrase jafnháfar hendingar refers to the final consonants, Fms. vi. 386, Skálda 190: end rhymes, as in mod. poetry, were called Run-henda (or Rím-henda?), but they are extremely rare in old poets: alternate end rhymes began to appear in the Rímur or Rhapsodies of the 14th century, and since that time in hymns;

β. verses gener.; mælti hann (Odin) allt hendingum, svá sem nú er þat kveðit er skáldskapr heitir, Hkr. (Yngl. S.) 10: in mod. usage hending often means the line of a verse or stanza, and hence poët. verses; héðan fagna eg hendingar heim að senda yðr, Núm. 8. 8: names of metres, odd-hending, al-h., used differently from the old sense.

COMPDS: hendingarlaust, hendingarorð, hendingaskipti.