Tender | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Tĕnd'er, n.

noun

n. [From tend.] 1. One who tends or takes care of another; a nurse.

Sense 2. (Naut.) A small vessel employed to attend a larger one, for supplying her with provisions and other stores, or to convey intelligence, and the like.

Sense 3. A car attached to locomotives, to supply them with fuel and water, while making a trip.

Sense 4. [See TENDER, v. t.] (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. 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.

Sense 5. Any offer for acceptance; especially, a proposal for performing a service advertised for.

Sense 6. The thing offered; as, this money is not a legal tender.

Sense 7. Regard; kind concern. [Obs.] Shak.

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.

Tĕnd'er, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. TENDERED; p. pr. & vb. n. TENDERING.] [Fr. tendre, to stretch, stretch out, reach, Lat. tendere. See TEND, v. i.] 1. To have a care of; to be tender toward; to pity. [Obs.] For first, next after life, he tendered her good. Spencer. 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. 2. To regard, or hold, as of value; to esteem; to value. [Obs.] Tender yourself more dearly. Shak.

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

All conditions, all minds, tender down Their service to Lord Timon. Shak.

Tĕn'der, a.

adjective

a. [compar. TENDERER; superl. TENDEREST.] [Fr. tendre, Pr. tendre, tenre, Pg. tenro, Sp. tierno, It. tenero, Lat. tener, W. tyner.]

Sense 1. Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender grapes.

Sense 2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained. Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces. L’Estrange.

Sense 3. Not hardy, or able to endure hardship; delicate; effeminate. “The tender and delicate woman among you.” Deut. xxviii. 56.

Sense 4. Not yet strong and mature; weak and feeble; youthful. The children are tender. Gen. xxxiii. 13.

Sense 5. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another’s good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor. I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper. Fuller. The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. James v. 11.

Sense 6. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious. I love Valentine: His life’s as tender to me as his soul. Shak.

Sense 7. 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.

Sense 8. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild. You, that are so tender o’er his follies, Will never do him good. Shak.

Sense 9. Apt to give pain; as, that is a tender subject; things that are tender and unpleasing.

Sense 10. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain.

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

Synonyms—Delicate; effeminate; soft; compassionate; kind; humane; merciful; pitiful.