tend
VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (3)tends, tended, tending
- have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined“She tends to be nervous before her lectures”“These dresses run small”“He inclined to corpulence”Synonyms: be givenleaninclinerunMore general beMore specific take kindly to, suffer, gravitate
- have care of or look after“She tends to the children”More general attend, take careMore specific garden, shepherd
- manage or run“tend a store”More general take care, mindMore specific stoke
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Verb to be probable or likely
- Spanish
- tender
- Italian
- tendere
- Portuguese
- tender
- Russian
- име́ть тенде́нцию imétʹ tendénciju
- Dutch
- geneigd zijn
- Swedish
- tendera
- Greek
- τείνω teíno
- Portuguese (PT)
- tender
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 往往 wǎngwǎng
- Catalan
- tendir
Verb to look after
- French
- soigner
- Russian
- уха́живать uxáživatʹ
- Arabic
- رعى raʕā
- Polish
- doglądać
- Indonesian
- memelihara
- Hungarian
- ápol
- Esperanto
- flegi
- Finnish
- hoitaa
- Serbo-Croatian
- njegovati
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: See Tender to offer.
O. Eng. Law To make a tender of; to offer or tender. obsolete
Origin: Aphetic form of attend. See Attend, Tend to move, and cf. 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. William Shakespeare
And flaming ministers to watch and tend Their earthly charge.— John 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.— Ralph Waldo 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.— George 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.
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?— William Shakespeare
2. To await; to expect. obsolete William Shakespeare
Origin: F. tendre, L. tendere, tensum and tentum, to stretch, extend, direct one's course, tend; akin to Gr. … to stretch, Skr. tan. See Thin, and cf. 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 Henry Wotton
Thus will this latter, as the former world, Still tend from bad to worse.— John Milton
The clouds above me to the white Alps tend.— George Noel Gordon, Ld. 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.— John Tilllotson
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54