TENDING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tending

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/tˈɛndɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Tend v. t. (O. Eng. Law) To make a tender of; to offer or tender. (Obs.)

Tend v. t. (past & past part. tended; pres. part. tending)

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. "And flaming ministers to watch and tend Their earthly charge." "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."

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."

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

Tend v. i.

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?"

To await; to expect. (Obs.)

Tend v. i.

To move in a certain direction; usually with to or towards. "Two gentlemen tending towards that sight." "Thus will this latter, as the former world, Still tend from bad to worse." "The clouds above me to the white Alps tend."

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

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Etymology of 'Tending'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tending" Quotes from Famous Books

... is recognized universally nowadays to be altogether inadequate. There is, in every proper sense, an English constitution. No small portion of it, indeed, is in written form. And it is worth observing that in practice there is tending to be established in England in our own day some measure of that (p. 047) distinction between constituent and legislative functions which obtains in other countries. There is no disposition to strip from Parliament its constituent powers; but the feeling is gaining ground ...

— The Governments of Europe • Frederic Austin Ogg

... again and again, and once more he was conscious of a stirring of anger, of revolt, such as he had felt on the night after Hermione's departure when he was alone on the terrace. She was his wife, his woman. What right had she to be tending another man? His imagination began to work quickly now, and he frowned as he looked up at the blue. He forgot all the rest of Hermione's letter, all her love of him and her longing to be back in Sicily with him, and thought only of her friendship ...

— The Call of the Blood • Robert Smythe Hichens

... answer. "He is catching fish in the warm waters of the sheltered bay; or, mayhap, he is tending his cows in the open sea, just around ...

— The Story of Siegfried • James Baldwin

... view of Jerusalem, a feature which comes much more boldly into prominence here than in Deuteronomy; the nation and the temple are strictly speaking identified. That externalisation towards which the prophetical movement, in order to become practical, had already been tending in Deuteronomy finally achieved its acme in the legislation of Ezra; a new artificial Israel was the result; but, after all, the old would have pleased an Amos better. At the same time it must be remembered that the kernel needed ...

— Prolegomena to the History of Israel • Julius Wellhausen

... he was aware too, now and again, of strange voices by his side, strange faces tending him. But they were black faces, all, and the voices spoke in deep guttural tones, unlike even the clicks and harsh Bantu jerks with which he had grown so familiar in eighteen months among the Barolong. This that he heard ...

— What's Bred In the Bone • Grant Allen

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