a. [ Compar. Tenderer superl. Tenderest. ] [ F. tendre, L. tener; probably akin to tenuis thin. See Thin. ] 1. Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship; immature; effeminate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The tender and delicate woman among you. Deut. xxviii. 56. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor; sympathetic. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. James v. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious. [ 1913 Webster ]

I love Valentine,
Whose life's as tender to me as my soul! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of. “Tender of property.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

The civil authority should be tender of the honor of God and religion. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild. [ 1913 Webster ]

You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
Will never do him good. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a tender subject. “Things that are tender and unpleasing.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Naut.) Heeling over too easily when under sail; -- said of a vessel. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Tender is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tender-footed, tender-looking, tender-minded, tender-mouthed, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Delicate; effeminate; soft; sensitive; compassionate; kind; humane; merciful; pitiful. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Tend to attend. Cf. Attender. ] 1. One who tends; one who takes care of any person or thing; a nurse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) A vessel employed to attend other vessels, to supply them with provisions and other stores, to convey intelligence, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

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3. A car attached to a locomotive, for carrying a supply of fuel and water. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tendered p. pr. & vb. n. Tendering. ] [ F. tendre to stretch, stretch out, reach, L. tendere. See Tend to move. ] 1. (Law) To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture; as, to tender the amount of rent or debt. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To offer in words; to present for acceptance. [ 1913 Webster ]

You see how all conditions, how all minds, . . . tender down
Their services to Lord Timon. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (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 nonpayment or nonperformance; as, the tender of rent due, or of the amount of a note, with interest. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any offer or proposal made for acceptance; as, a tender of a loan, of service, or of friendship; a tender of a bid for a contract. [ 1913 Webster ]

A free, unlimited tender of the gospel. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The thing offered; especially, money offered in payment of an obligation. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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Legal tender. See under Legal. --
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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. tendre. ] Regard; care; kind concern. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To have a care of; to be tender toward; hence, to regard; to esteem; to value. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

For first, next after life, he tendered her good. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tender yourself more dearly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A delicate person; one not inured to the hardship and rudeness of pioneer life. [ Slang, Western U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. See Boy scout. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Having great sensibility; susceptible of impressions or influence; affectionate; pitying; sensitive. -- Ten"der-heart`ed*ly, adv. -- Ten"der-heart`ed*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them. 2 Chron. xiii. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted. Eph. iv. 32. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having great tenderness; easily moved. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One made tender by too much kindness; a fondling. [ R. ] W. Harrison (1586). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) One of the first antlers of a deer. [ 1913 Webster ]