tent

English Online Dictionary. What means tent‎? What does tent mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĕnt, IPA^(key): /tɛnt/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /tɪnt/
    • Homophone: tint
• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• Homophone: tint (pin–pen merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English tente, borrowed from Old French tente, from Vulgar Latin *tenta (“tent”), from the feminine of Latin tentus, ptp. of tendere (“to stretch, extend”), or contracted from *tendita as an alternate past participle. Displaced native Middle English tild, tilt (“tent, tilt”), from Old English teld (“tent”). Compare Spanish tienda (“store, shop; tent”).

Noun

tent (plural tents)

2. A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather.

3. (archaic) The representation of a tent used as a bearing.
4. (Scotland) A portable pulpit set up outside to accommodate worshippers who cannot fit into a church.
5. A trouser tent; a piece of fabric, etc. protruding outward like a tent.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)

1. (intransitive) To go camping.

2. (cooking) To prop up aluminum foil in an inverted "V" (reminiscent of a pop-up tent) over food to reduce splatter, before putting it in the oven.
3. (intransitive) To form into a tent-like shape.

4. Synonym of fumigate

Translations

See also

• camp
• lean-to
• lodge
• pavilion, pavillion
• pitch
• tarp

Etymology 2

From Middle English tent (“attention”), aphetic variation of attent (“attention”), from Old French atente (“attention, intention”), from Latin attenta, feminine of attentus, past participle of attendere (“to attend”). Compare tend, from an aphetic variation of attend

Verb

tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)

1. (archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) To attend to; to heed
   • 14th century, anonymous, The Romance of Syr Tryamoure

     He let hur have wemen at wylle,
     To tent hur, and that was skylle,
     And brought hur to bede

2. (archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) to guard; to hinder.

Noun

tent (plural tents)

1. (archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) Attention; regard, care.
2. (archaic) Intention; design.

Etymology 3

From Middle English tente (“a probe”), from Middle French tente, deverbal of tenter, from Latin tentāre (“to probe, test”), alteration of temptāre (“to test, probe, tempt”).

Noun

tent (plural tents)

2. (medicine) A roll of lint or linen, or a conical or cylindrical piece of sponge or other absorbent, used chiefly to dilate a natural canal, to keep open the orifice of a wound, or to absorb discharges.
3. (medicine) A probe for searching a wound.

Verb

tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)

1. (medicine, sometimes figurative) To probe or to search with a tent; to keep open with a tent.

   to tent a wound

Etymology 4

From Spanish tinto (“deep-colored”), from Latin tīnctus, past participle of tingo (“to dye”). More at tinge. Doublet of tint and tinto. Compare claret (“French red wine”), also from color.

Noun

tent (plural tents)

2. (archaic) A kind of red wine of a deep red color, chiefly from Galicia or Malaga in Spain.

   Synonyms: tent wine, tinta

   Coordinate terms: claret, hock, sack

References

• “tent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Nett, nett

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch tente, from Old French tente, from Vulgar Latin *tenta or *tenda.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛnt/
• Hyphenation: tent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

tent f (plural tenten, diminutive tentje n)

1. tent (for camping, special occasions, etc.)
2. pavillion

   Synonym: paviljoen

3. (informal, Dutch, often in compounds) a building, especially one used for commercial purposes; a joint

   Synonym: keet

Derived terms

Descendants

• Negerhollands: tente
• → Sranan Tongo: tenti
  • → Caribbean Javanese: thenthi
  • → Lokono: tenti

Middle English

Adjective

tent

1. Alternative form of tenthe

Noun

tent

1. Alternative form of tenthe

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

tent

1. past participle of tenne

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English tenth, tenthe.

Adjective

tent

1. tenth

References

• “tend, adj., n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 7 June 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “tent, adj.1, n.1.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 7 June 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Southern Kam

Adjective

tent

1. short

Swedish

Etymology

Clipping of tentamen. Compare Finnish tentti.

Noun

tent c

1. (Finland, colloquial) exam, examination (test)

   Synonyms: tentamen, tenta

Declension

Derived terms

• tentlitteratur