tent

¹

[tent]

noun

1. a portable shelter of skins, canvas, plastic, or the like, supported by one or more poles or a frame and often secured by ropes fastened to pegs in the ground.

2. something that resembles a tent.

3. tent dress.

verb (used with object)

1. to lodge in tents.

2. to cover with or as if with a tent.

   In winter the tennis courts are tented in plastic.

verb (used without object)

1. to live in a tent; encamp.

tent

²

[tent]

noun

1. a roll or pledget, usually of soft absorbent material, as lint or gauze, for dilating an orifice, keeping a wound open, etc.

2. a probe.

verb (used with object)

1. to keep (a wound) open with a tent.

tent

³

[tent]

verb (used with object)

Chiefly Scot.

1. to give or pay attention to; heed.

tent

¹

/ tɛnt /

noun

1. 1. a portable shelter of canvas, plastic, or other waterproof material supported on poles and fastened to the ground by pegs and ropes

   2. ( as modifier )

      tent peg

2. something resembling this in function or shape

verb

1. (intr) to camp in a tent

2. (tr) to cover with or as if with a tent or tents

3. (tr) to provide with a tent as shelter

tent

²

/ tɛnt /

noun

1. heed; attention

verb

1. to pay attention to; take notice of

2. to attend to

tent

³

/ tɛnt /

noun

1. a plug of soft material for insertion into a bodily canal, etc, to dilate it or maintain its patency

verb

1. (tr) to insert such a plug into (a bodily canal, etc)

tent

⁴

/ tɛnt /

noun

1. obsolete,  a red table wine from Alicante, Spain

Other Word Forms

• tentless adjective
• tentlike adjective
• tented adjective
• tenter noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tent¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English tente, from Old French, from Latin tenta, feminine of tentus, past participle of tendere “to extend, stretch”

Origin of tent²

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English tent(e), teint(e) “a probe,” from Middle French tente “a probe, roll of lint,” noun derivative of tenter, from Latin tentāre, variant of temptāre tempt

Origin of tent³

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, tente(n), “to plan, intend, look after,” derivative of tent(e) “attention,” shortening of attent, past participle of attenden “to pay attention to, heed,” from Old French atente “attention, intention,” from Latin attenta, feminine of attentus, past participle of attendere to attend

Word History and Origins

Origin of tent¹

C13: from Old French tente, from Latin tentōrium something stretched out, from tendere to stretch

Origin of tent²

C14: from attent _attend and _intent

Origin of tent³

C14 (in the sense: a probe): from Old French tente (noun), ultimately from Latin temptāre to try; see _tempt

Origin of tent⁴

C16: from Spanish tinto dark-coloured; see _tint

Example Sentences

And over the course of the contest, enough players kept filing into the sideline blue medical tent that the team doctors could have used a waiting room.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“If you don’t want to live on a park bench, I suggest you get a tent,” he replied.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The bathroom, she says, is a tent in the street with rats and insects.

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When Hezbollah pitched tents inside Israeli territory, officials dismissed the move as a technicality, somehow less than a full-scale breach of the border.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

"Shrapnel hits the walls here, but it's still better than a tent."

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• canvas 
• pavilion