n.
- A portable shelter, as of canvas, stretched over a supporting framework of poles with ropes and pegs.
- Something resembling such a portable shelter in construction or outline: "her hair a dark tent, her face a thin triangle" (Anne Tyler).
v., tent·ed, tent·ing, tents. v.intr.
To camp in a tent.
v.tr.
- To form a tent over.
- To supply with or put up in tents.
[Middle English, from Old French tente, from Vulgar Latin *tendita, from feminine past participle of Latin tendere, to stretch out.]
tent2 (tĕnt)
n.
A small cylindrical plug of lint or gauze used to keep open or probe a wound or an orifice.
tr.v., tent·ed, tent·ing, tents.
To keep (a wound or orifice) open with such a plug.
[Middle English tente, from Old French, from tenter, to probe, from Latin tentāre, to feel, try. See tentative.]
tent3 (tĕnt)
tr.v. Scots, tent·ed, tent·ing, tents.
- To pay heed to.
- To attend; wait on.
[Middle English tenten, from tent, attention, short for attent, from Old French attente, from Vulgar Latin *attendita, from feminine past participle of Latin attendere, to wait on. See attend.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
