King James Bible Dictionary

TEND, verb transitive [contracted from attend, Latin attendo; ad and tendo, to stretch.]

1. To watch; to guard; to accompany as an assistant or protector.

And flaming ministers to watch and tend

Their earthly charge--

There is a pleasure in that simplicity, in beholding princes tending their flocks.

2. To hold and take care of; as, to tend a child.

3. To be attentive to.

Unsuck'd of lamb or kid that tend their play.

TEND, verb transitive [Latin tendo; teneo.]

1. To move in a certain direction.

Having overheard two gentlemen tending towards that sight--

Here Dardanus was born, and hither tends.

2. To be directed to any end or purpose; to aim at; to have or give a leaning.

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

3. To contribute. Our petitions, if granted, might tend to our destruction.

4. [for attend.] To attend; to wait as attendants or servants.

He tends upon my father. [Colloquial.]

5. To attend as something inseparable. [Not in use.]

6. To wait; to expect. [Not in use.]

7. To swing round an anchor, as a ship.

TEND'ANCE, noun Attendance; state of expectation.

1. Persons attending.

2. Act of waiting; attendance.

3. Care; act of tending.

[This word is entirely obsolete in all its senses. We now use attendance.]

TEND'ED, participle passive Attended; taken care of; nursed; as an infant, or a sick person.

TEND'ENCY, noun [from tend; Latin tendens, tending.] Drift; direction or course towards any place, object, effect or result. Read such books only as have a good moral tendency Mild language has a tendency to allay irritation.

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

TEND'ER, noun [from tend.] One that attends or takes care of; a nurse.

1. A small vessel employed to attend a larger one for supplying her with provisions and other stores, or to convey intelligence and the like.

2. In 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 non-payment or non-performance; as the tender of rent due, or of the amount of a note or bond with interest. To constitute a legal tender such money must be offered as the law prescribes; the offer of bank notes is not a legal tender 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.

There is also a tender of issue in pleadings, a tender of an oath, etc.

3. Any offer for acceptance. The gentleman made me a tender of his services.

4. The thing offered. This money is not a legal tender

5. Regard; kind concern. [Not in use.]

TEND'ER, verb transitive [Latin tendo.]

1. To offer in words; or to exhibit or present for acceptance.

All conditions, all minds tender down

Their service to lord Timon.

2. To hold; to esteem.

Tender yourself more dearly. [Not in use.]

3. To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, for saving a penalty or forfeiture; as, to tender the amount of rent or debt.

TEN'DER, adjective [Latin tener; allied probably to thin, Latin tenuis.]

1. Soft; easily impressed, broken, bruised or injured; not firm or hard; as tender plants; tender flesh; tender grapes. Deuteronomy 32:2. Song of Solomon 2:13.

2. Very sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces.

3. Delicate; effeminate; not hardy or able to endure hardship.

The tender and delicate woman among you. Deuteronomy 28:54.

4. Weak; feeble; as tender age. Genesis 33:13.

5. Young and carefully educated. Proverbs 9:1.

6. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; easily affected by the distresses of another, or anxious for another's good; as the tender kindness of the church; a tender heart.

7. Compassionate; easily excited to pity, forgiveness or favor.

The Lord is pitiful, and of tender mercy. James 5:11.

Luke 1:78.

8. Exciting kind concern.

I love Valentine;

His life's as tender to me as his soul.

9. Expressive of the softer passions; as a tender strain.

10. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; with of. Be tender of your neighbor's reputation.

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

11. Gentle; mild; unwilling to pain.

You that are so tender o'er his follies,

Will never do him good.

12. Apt to give pain; as, that is a tender subject; things that are tender and unpleasing.

13. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; pathetic; as tender expressions; tender expostulations.

TEND'ERED, participle passive Offered for acceptance.

TEN'DER-HE'ARTED, adjective [tender and heart.]

1. Having great sensibility; susceptible of impressions or influence.

--When Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. 2 Chronicles 13:7.

2. Very susceptible of the softer passions of love, pity or kindness.

Be ye kind one to another, and tender-hearted Ephesians 4:32.

TENDER-HE'ARTEDNESS, noun Susceptibility of the softer passions.

TEND'ERING, participle present tense Offering for acceptance.

TEN'DERLING, noun A fondling; one made tender by too much kindness.

1. The first horns of a deer.

TEN'DERLOIN, noun A tender part of flesh in the hind quarter of beef.

TEN'DERLY, adverb With tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain.

Brutus tenderly reproves.

1. Kindly; with pity or affection.

TEN'DERNESS, noun The state of being tender or easily broken, bruised or injured; softness; brittleness; as the tenderness of a thread; the tenderness of flesh.

1. The state of being easily hurt; soreness; as the tenderness of flesh when bruised or inflamed.

2. Susceptibility of the softer passions; sensibility.

Well we know your tenderness of heart.

3. Kind attention; anxiety for the good of another, or to save him from pain.

4. Scrupulousness; caution; extreme care or concern not to give or to commit offense; as tenderness of conscience.

5. Cautious care to preserve or not to injure; as a tenderness of reputation.

6. Softness of expression; pathos.

TEND'ING, participle present tense Having a certain direction; taking care of.

TEND'ING, noun In seaman's language, a swinging round or movement of a ship upon her anchor.

TEN'DINOUS, adjective [Latin tendines, tendons, from tendo, to stretch.]

1. Pertaining to a tendon; partaking of the nature of tendons.

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

TEND'MENT, noun Attendance; care.

TEN'DON, noun [Latin tendo; teneo, tendo.] In anatomy, a hard insensible cord or bundle of fibers, by which a muscle is attached to a bone.

TEN'DRAC, noun An animal of the hedgehog kind, found in the E. Indies.

TEN'DRIL, noun A clasp or clasper of a vine or other climbing or creeping plant; a filiform spiral shoot, that winds round another body. Tendrils or claspers are given to plants that have weak stalks.

They are also given to creeping vines, which require support on the earth.

TEN'DRIL, adjective Clasping; climbing; as a tendril