tender

adj

1. Sensitive or painful to the touch.

   “[…]poore Lord, is't I That chaſe thee from thy Countrie, and expoſe Thoſe tender limbes of thine[…]”

   “Be careful: that area is tender.”

2. Easily bruised or injured; not firm or hard; delicate.

   “tender plants”

   “tender flesh”

   “tender fruit”

3. Physically weak; not able to endure hardship.

   “the tender and delicate woman among you”

4. Soft and easily chewed.

   “The Matrix is telling my brain this steak is tender, succulent, and juicy.”

5. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

   “Our Bodies are not naturally more Tender than our Faces.”

6. Fond, loving, gentle, or sweet.

   “Suzanne was such a tender mother to her children.”

   “You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, Will never do him good.”

   “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

   “Lord. VVHen thou ſhalt viſit me vvith a ſharp diſeaſe, I fear I ſhall be impatient. For I am Cholerick by my Nature, and tender by my Temper, and have not been acquainted vvith Sickneſſe all my life time.”

7. Young and inexperienced.

   “I first had a girlfriend at the tender age of seven.”

   “And you of tender years can't know the fears that your elders grew by.”

   “The court later expressly adopted the tender years doctrine, which states that a child is incapable of contributory negligence if he is less than seven years old[…].”

8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic.

   “tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain”

   “The lesser griefs that may be said, ⁠That breathe a thousand tender vows, ⁠Are but as servants in a house Where lies the master newly dead; […]”

9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate.

   “a tender subject”

   “Things that are tender and unpleasing.”

10. Heeling over too easily when under sail; said of a vessel.
11. (obsolete)Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.

    “I love Valentine, Whose life's as tender to me as my soul!”

12. (obsolete)Careful to keep inviolate, or not to injure; used with of.

    “tender of property”

    “The civil authority should be tender of the honour of God and religion.”

noun

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Care, kind concern, regard.

   “Stay, and breath awhile. Thou haſt redeem'd thy loſt opinion And ſhew'd thou makeſt ſome tender of my life In this faire reſcue thou haſt brought to mee.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The inner flight muscle (pectoralis minor) of poultry.
3. A railroad car towed behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.

   “Half the coal was out of the tender, half the fire out of the box, half the trucks were off the track, so violent was the stopping.”

   “Of locomotive interest was "an engine house for spare engines which was about 60 ft. × 51 ft.; on the outside of this was an immense turntable sufficient to turn the engine and tender at once."”

4. A naval ship that functions as a mobile base for other ships.

   “submarine tender”

   “destroyer tender”

5. A smaller boat used for transportation between a large ship and the shore.

   “The transfer by tender of some 1,300 mail bags was effected smartly, and the "Ocean Mails Special" train was ready at 9.19 a.m.”

   “A passenger on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth died this week following an accident while boarding from a tender (the small boats that carry passengers from ship to shore or port when the cruise ship anchors at sea). […] Gangway ramps can, on occasion, break free of either the ship or the tender, causing passengers or crew to fall into the sea.”

6. A member of a diving team who assists a diver during a dive but does not themselves go underwater.

   “Now, with scallop populations under pressure, Mr. Sewell is one of only about 30 active scallop divers left in his state. He and his tender, Jason Simmons, have harvested scallops together each winter and early spring for the past seven years. The rest of the year he catches bluefin tuna and dives for sea urchins.”

   “The first of two willful violations OSHA found were the diver and dive tender "performing dredging operations in a canal with zero-visibility, did not have the experience and training in the use of tools, equipment, systems, techniques, and emergency procedures which are required to perform these underwater tasks in a safe manner."”

7. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of water tender (“firefighting apparatus”).
8. Someone who tends or waits on something or someone.
9. Anything which is offered, proffered, put forth or bid with the expectation of a response, answer, or reply.

   “You offer me the sword of my father, the very man whose bones, because of your perfidy, lie under the sod of Crecy. Aye, I'll surely take it, and just as surely you shall die with your tender through your heart!”

   “Ophe[lia]. He hath my Lord of late made many tenders / Of his affection to me. / Pol[onius]. Affection, puh, you ſpeake like a greene girle / Vnſifted in ſuch perrilous circumſtance, / Do you belieue his tenders as you call them? / Ophe. I doe not knovve my Lord vvhat I ſhould thinke. / Pol. Marry I vvill teach you, thinke your ſelfe a babie / That you haue tane [taken] theſe tenders for true pay / VVhich are not ſterling, tender your ſelfe more dearely […]”

10. A means of payment such as a check or cheque, cash or credit card.

    “Your credit card has been declined so you need to provide some other tender such as cash.”

    “legal tender”

11. A formal offer to buy or sell something.

    “We will submit our tender to you within the week.”

12. Any offer or proposal made for acceptance.

    “[...] if she should make tender of her love, 'tis very possible he'll scorn it; for the man,—as you know all,—hath a contemptible spirit.”

adv

1. tenderly

   “Love me tender, love me sweet Never let me go”

verb

1. (archaic)To make tender or delicate; to weaken.

   “To such as are wealthy, live plenteously, at ease, […] these viands are to be forborne, if they be inclined to, or suspect melancholy, as they tender their healths […].”

   “Putnam Fadeless Dyes will not injure any material. Boiling water does tender some materials. […] Also, silk fibers are very tender when wet and care should be take not to boil them too vigorously.”

2. (archaic)To feel tenderly towards; to regard fondly or with consideration.

   “The angrie king hath banished me the court: And therefore as thou louest and tendrest me, Be thou my aduocate vnto these peeres.”

   “Firſt, heauen be the record to my ſpeech, In the deuotion of a ſubiects loue, Tendering the precious ſafetie of my Prince, And free from other misbegotten hate, Come I appealant to rhis [sic] Princely preſence.”

   “And ſo good Capulet, which name I tender As dearely as my owne, be ſatisfied.”

3. To work on a tender.

   “Meantime, I'll dig up what I can, but if they start fishing again, I start tendering.”

4. (formal)To offer, to give.

   “to tender one’s resignation”

   “You see how all conditions, how all minds, […] tender down Their services to Lord Timon.”

   “1864 November 21, Abraham Lincoln (signed) or John Hay, letter to Mrs. Bixby in Boston I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.”

   “Hank Mann Tenders You Holiday Greetings”

5. To offer a payment, as at sales or auctions; to bid.