Tend Tend transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tended ; present participle & verbal noun Tending .] [ Aphetic form of attend . See Attend , Tend to move, and confer Tender one that tends or attends.] 1. To accompany as an assistant or protector; to care for the wants of; to look after; to watch; to guard; as, shepherds tend their flocks. Shak.

And flaming ministers to watch and tend
Their earthly charge.

Milton.

There 's not a sparrow or a wren,
There 's not a blade of autumn grain,
Which the four seasons do not tend
And tides of life and increase lend.

Emerson.

2. To be attentive to; to note carefully; to attend to.

Being to descend
A ladder much in height, I did not tend
My way well down.

Chapman.

To tend a vessel (Nautical) , to manage an anchored vessel when the tide turns, so that in swinging she shall not entangle the cable.

Tend Tend intransitive verb 1. To wait, as attendants or servants; to serve; to attend; -- with on or upon .

Was he not companion with the riotous knights
That tend upon my father?

Shak.

2. [ French attendre .] To await; to expect. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Tend Tend intransitive verb [ French tendre , Latin tendere , tensum and tentum , to stretch, extend, direct one's course, tend; akin to Greek ... to stretch, Sanskrit tan . See Thin , and confer Tend to attend, Contend , Intense , Ostensible , Portent , Tempt , Tender to offer, Tense , adjective ] 1. To move in a certain direction; -- usually with to or towards .

Two gentlemen tending towards that sight.

Sir H. Wotton.

Thus will this latter, as the former world,
Still tend from bad to worse.

Milton.

The clouds above me to the white Alps tend .

Byron.

2. To be directed, as to any end, object, or purpose; to aim; to have or give a leaning; to exert activity or influence; to serve as a means; to contribute; as, our petitions, if granted, might tend to our destruction.

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

Prov. xxi. 5.

The laws of our religion tend to the universal happiness of mankind.

Tillotson.

Tendance Tend"ance noun [ See Tend to attend, and confer Attendance .] 1. The act of attending or waiting; attendance. [ Archaic] Spenser.

The breath
Of her sweet tendance hovering over him.

Tennyson.

2. Persons in attendance; attendants. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Tendence Tend"ence noun Tendency. [ Obsolete]

Tendency Tend"en·cy noun ; plural Tendencies . [ Latin tendents , -entis , present participle of tendere : confer French tendance . See Tend to move.] Direction or course toward any place, object, effect, or result; drift; causal or efficient influence to bring about an effect or result.

Writings of this kind, if conducted with candor, have a more particular tendency to the good of their country.

Addison.

In every experimental science, there is a tendency toward perfection.

Macaulay.

Syn. -- Disposition; inclination; proneness; drift; scope; aim.

Tender Tend"er noun [ From Tend to attend. Confer Attender .] 1. One who tends; one who takes care of any person or thing; a nurse.

2. (Nautical) A vessel employed to attend other vessels, to supply them with provisions and other stores, to convey intelligence, or the like.

3. A car attached to a locomotive, for carrying a supply of fuel and water.

Tender Ten"der transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tendered ; present participle & verbal noun Tendering .] [ French tendre to stretch, stretch out, reach, Latin tendere . See Tend to move.] 1. (Law) To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture; as, to tender the amount of rent or debt.

2. To offer in words; to present for acceptance.

You see how all conditions, how all minds, . . . tender down
Their services to Lord Timon.

Shak.

Tender Ten"der noun 1. (Law) An offer, either of money to pay a debt, or of service to be performed, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture, which would be incurred by nonpayment or nonperformance; as, the tender of rent due, or of the amount of a note, with interest.

» To constitute a legal tender, such money must be offered as the law prescribes. So also the tender must be at the time and place where the rent or debt ought to be paid, and it must be to the full amount due.

2. Any offer or proposal made for acceptance; as, a tender of a loan, of service, or of friendship; a tender of a bid for a contract.

A free, unlimited tender of the gospel.

South.

3. The thing offered; especially, money offered in payment of an obligation. Shak.

Legal tender . See under Legal . -- Tender of issue (Law) , a form of words in a pleading, by which a party offers to refer the question raised upon it to the appropriate mode of decision. Burrill.

Tender Ten"der adjective [ Compar. Tenderer ; superl. Tenderest .] [ French tendre , Latin tener ; probably akin to tenuis thin. See Thin .] 1. Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit.

2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces.

L'Estrange.

3. Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship; immature; effeminate.

The tender and delicate woman among you.

Deut. xxviii. 56.

4. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor; sympathetic.

The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

James v. 11.

I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper.

Fuller.

5. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.

I love Valentine,
Whose life's as tender to me as my soul!

Shak.

6. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of . " Tender of property." Burke.

The civil authority should be tender of the honor of God and religion.

Tillotson.

7. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild.

You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
Will never do him good.

Shak.

8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain.

9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a tender subject. "Things that are tender and unpleasing." Bacon.

10. (Nautical) Heeling over too easily when under sail; -- said of a vessel.

» Tender is sometimes used in the formation of self- explaining compounds; as, tender -footed, tender -looking, tender -minded, tender -mouthed, and the like.

Syn. -- Delicate; effeminate; soft; sensitive; compassionate; kind; humane; merciful; pitiful.

Tender Ten"der noun [ Confer French tendre .] Regard; care; kind concern. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Tender Ten"der transitive verb To have a care of; to be tender toward; hence, to regard; to esteem; to value. [ Obsolete]

For first, next after life, he tendered her good.

Spenser.

Tender yourself more dearly.

Shak.

To see a prince in want would move a miser's charity. Our western princes tendered his case, which they counted might be their own.

Fuller.

Tender-hearted Ten"der-heart`ed adjective Having great sensibility; susceptible of impressions or influence; affectionate; pitying; sensitive. -- Ten"der-heart`ed*ly , adverb -- Ten"der-heart`ed*ness , noun

Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted , and could not withstand them.

2 Chron. xiii. 7.

Be ye kind one to another, tender- hearted .

Eph. iv. 32.

Tender-hefted Ten"der-heft`ed adjective Having great tenderness; easily moved. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Tenderfoot Ten"der·foot` noun A delicate person; one not inured to the hardship and rudeness of pioneer life. [ Slang, Western U. S.]

Tenderfoot Ten"der·foot` noun See Boy scout .

Tenderling Ten"der·ling noun 1. One made tender by too much kindness; a fondling. [ R.] W. Harrison (1586).

2. (Zoology) One of the first antlers of a deer.

Tenderloin Ten"der·loin` noun A strip of tender flesh on either side of the vertebral column under the short ribs, in the hind quarter of beef and pork. It consists of the psoas muscles.

Tenderloin Ten"der·loin` noun 1. A strip of tender flesh on either side of the vertebral column under the short ribs, in beef or pork. It consists of the psoas muscles.

2. In New York City, the region which is the center of the night life of fashionable amusement, including the majority of the theaters, etc., centering on Broadway. The term orig. designates the old twenty-ninth police precinct, in this region, which afforded the police great opportunities for profit through conniving at vice and lawbreaking, one captain being reported to have said on being transferred there that whereas he had been eating chuck steak he would now eat tenderlion. Hence, in some other cities, a district largely devoted to night amusement, or, sometimes, to vice.

Tenderly Ten"der·ly adverb In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly. Chaucer.

Tenderness Ten"der·ness noun The quality or state of being tender (in any sense of the adjective).

Syn. -- Benignity; humanity; sensibility; benevolence; kindness; pity; clemency; mildness; mercy.

Tendinous Ten"di·nous adjective [ Confer French tendineux .] 1. Pertaining to a tendon; of the nature of tendon.

2. Full of tendons; sinewy; as, nervous and tendinous parts of the body.

Tendment Tend"ment noun Attendance; care. [ Obsolete]

Tendon Ten"don noun [ French, from Latin tendere to stretch, extend. See Tend to move.] (Anat.) A tough insensible cord, bundle, or band of fibrous connective tissue uniting a muscle with some other part; a sinew.

Tendon reflex (Physiol.) , a kind of reflex act in which a muscle is made to contract by a blow upon its tendon. Its absence is generally a sign of disease. See Knee jerk , under Knee .

Tendonous Ten"don·ous adjective Tendinous.

Tendosynovitis Ten`do·syn`o·vi"tis noun [ New Latin See Tendon , and Synovitis .] See Tenosynovitis .

Tendrac Ten"drac noun [ See Tenrec .] (Zoology) Any one of several species of small insectivores of the family Centetidæ , belonging to Ericulus , Echinope , and related genera, native of Madagascar. They are more or less spinose and resemble the hedgehog in habits. The rice tendrac ( Oryzorictes hora ) is very injurious to rice crops. Some of the species are called also tenrec .

Tendre Ten"dre noun [ French] Tender feeling or fondness; affection.

You poor friendless creatures are always having some foolish tendre .

Thackeray.

Tendresse Ten·dresse" noun [ French] Tender feeling; fondness. [ Obsolete, except as a French word]

Tendril Ten"dril noun [ Shortened from Old French tendrillon , from French tendre tender; hence, properly, the tender branch or spring of a plant: confer French tendrille . See Tender , adjective , and confer Tendron .] (Botany) A slender, leafless portion of a plant by which it becomes attached to a supporting body, after which the tendril usually contracts by coiling spirally.

» Tendrils may represent the end of a stem, as in the grapevine; an axillary branch, as in the passion flower; stipules, as in the genus Smilax; or the end of a leaf, as in the pea.

Tendril Ten"dril adjective Clasping; climbing as a tendril. [ R.] Dyer.

Tendriled, Tendrilled Ten"driled, Ten"drilled adjective (Botany) Furnished with tendrils, or with such or so many, tendrils. "The thousand tendriled vine." Southey.

Tendron Ten"dron noun [ French Confer Tendril .] A tendril. [ Obsolete] Holland.

Tendry Ten"dry noun A tender; an offer. [ Obsolete] Heylin.

Tene Tene noun & v. See 1st and 2d Teen . [ Obsolete]

Tenebricose Te·neb"ri·cose` adjective [ Latin tenebricosus .] Tenebrous; dark; gloomy. [ Obsolete]

Tenebrific Ten`e·brif"ic adjective [ Latin tenebrae darkness + facere to make.] Rendering dark or gloomy; tenebrous; gloomy.

It lightens, it brightens,
The tenebrific scene.

Burns.

Where light
Lay fitful in a tenebrific time.

R. Browning.

Tenebrificous Ten`e·brif"ic·ous adjective Tenebrific.

Authors who are tenebrificous stars.

Addison.

Tenebrious Te·ne"bri·ous adjective Tenebrous. Young.

Tenebrose Ten"e·brose` adjective Characterized by darkness or gloom; tenebrous.

Tenebrosity Ten`e·bros"i·ty noun The quality or state of being tenebrous; tenebrousness. Burton.

Tenebrous Ten"e·brous adjective [ Latin tenebrosus , from tenebrae darkness: confer French ténébreux .] Dark; gloomy; dusky; tenebrious. -- Ten"e*brous*ness , noun

The most dark, tenebrous night.

J. Hall (1565).

The towering and tenebrous boughts of the cypress.

Longfellow.

Tenebræ Ten"e·bræ noun [ Latin , plural, darkness.] (R. C. Ch.) The matins and lauds for the last three days of Holy Week, commemorating the sufferings and death of Christ, -- usually sung on the afternoon or evening of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, instead of on the following days.

Tenement Ten"e·ment noun [ Old French tenement a holding, a fief, French tènement , Late Latin tenementum , from Latin tenere to hold. See Tenant .] 1. (Feud. Law) That which is held of another by service; property which one holds of a lord or proprietor in consideration of some military or pecuniary service; fief; fee.

2. (Common Law) Any species of permanent property that may be held, so as to create a tenancy, as lands, houses, rents, commons, an office, an advowson, a franchise, a right of common, a peerage, and the like; -- called also free or frank tenements .

The thing held is a tenement , the possessor of it a "tenant," and the manner of possession is called "tenure."

Blackstone.

3. A dwelling house; a building for a habitation; also, an apartment, or suite of rooms, in a building, used by one family; often, a house erected to be rented.

4. Fig.: Dwelling; abode; habitation.

Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit no tenement , unless it has just such a sort of frontispiece?

Locke.

Tenement house , commonly, a dwelling house erected for the purpose of being rented, and divided into separate apartments or tenements for families. The term is often applied to apartment houses occupied by poor families.

Syn. -- House; dwelling; habitation. -- Tenement , House . There may be many houses under one roof, but they are completely separated from each other by party walls. A tenement may be detached by itself, or it may be part of a house divided off for the use of a family.

Tenemental Ten`e·men"tal adjective Of or pertaining to a tenement; capable of being held by tenants. Blackstone.

Tenementary Ten`e·men"ta·ry adjective Capable of being leased; held by tenants. Spelman.

Tenent Ten"ent noun [ Latin tenent they hold, 3d pers. plural present of tenere .] A tenet. [ Obsolete] Bp. Sanderson.

Teneral Ten"er·al adjective [ Latin tener , - eris , tender, delicate.] (Zoology) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a condition assumed by the imago of certain Neuroptera, after exclusion from the pupa. In this state the insect is soft, and has not fully attained its mature coloring.

Teneriffe Ten`er·iffe" noun A white wine resembling Madeira in taste, but more tart, produced in Teneriffe, one of the Canary Islands; -- called also Vidonia .

Tenerity Te·ner"i·ty noun [ Latin teneritas . See Tender , adjective ] Tenderness. [ Obsolete] Ainsworth.

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