attend
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /əˈtɛnd/, [əˈtʰɛnd]
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnd
Etymology 1
From Middle English attenden, atenden, from Old French atendre (“to attend, listen”), from Latin attendere (“to stretch toward, give heed to”), from ad (“to”) + tendere (“to stretch”); see tend and compare attempt.
Verb
attend (third-person singular simple present attends, present participle attending, simple past and past participle attended)
- (archaic, transitive) To listen to (something or someone); to pay attention to; regard; heed. [from 15th c.]
- (Can we date this quote?) Sir Philip Sidney
- The diligent pilot in a dangerous tempest doth not attend the unskilful words of the passenger.
- (Can we date this quote?) Sir Philip Sidney
- (archaic, intransitive) To listen (to, unto). [from 15th c.]
- Rudyard Kipling, The Beginning of the Armadillos
- 'Now attend to me,' said Painted Jaguar, 'because this is very important. […]
- Rudyard Kipling, The Beginning of the Armadillos
- (intransitive) To turn one's consideration (to); to deal with (a task, problem, concern etc.), to look after. [from 15th c.]
- Secretaries attend to correspondence.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 15, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
- (transitive, intransitive) To wait upon as a servant etc.; to accompany to assist (someone). [from 15th c.]
- Valets attend to their employer's wardrobe.
- (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
- The fifth had charge sick persons to attend.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- Attends the emperor in his royal court.
- (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Macaulay
- With a sore heart and a gloomy brow, he prepared to attend William thither.
- (transitive) To be present at (an event or place) in order to take part in some action or proceedings; to regularly go to (an event or place). [from 17th c.]
- Children must attend primary school.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
- In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 20:
- I attended a one-room school next door to the palace and studied English, Xhosa, history and geography.
- (intransitive, law) To go to (a place) for some purpose (with at).
- To be present with; to accompany; to be united or consequent to.
- a measure attended with ill effects
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
- What cares must then attend the toiling swain.
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
- The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
- To wait for; to await; to remain, abide, or be in store for.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Locke
- the state that attends all men after this
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
- Three days I promised to attend my doom.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Locke
Synonyms
- (listen to): behear, heed, mark, notice
- (listen): notice, pay attention, take heed; See also Thesaurus:listen or Thesaurus:pay attention
- (wait upon as a servant): bestand, serve; See also Thesaurus:serve
- (wait for): See also Thesaurus:wait for
Related terms
to be at an event
Translations
to turn one's consideration to, deal with
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to be present at
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Etymology 2
From Middle English attenden, atenden, from Old English ātendan (“to set on fire, kindle, inflame, trouble, perplex”), equivalent to a- + tend.
Dutch
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French
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