tent
English

Pronunciation
- enPR: tĕnt, IPA(key): /tɛnt/
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /tɪnt/
- Homophone: tint
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /tɪnt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (US-Inland North) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnt
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”). Displaced native Middle English tild, tilt (“tent, tilt”), from Old English teld (“tent”).
Noun
tent (plural tents)
- 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.
- We were camping in a three-man tent.
- (archaic) The representation of a tent used as a bearing.
- (Scotland) A portable pulpit set up outside to accommodate worshippers who cannot fit into a church.
- 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:
- A splendid tent was erected on the brae north of the town, and round that the countless congregation assembled.
- 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:
- A trouser tent; a piece of fabric, etc. protruding outward like a tent.
- 2013, Nathan Lapointe, A Strange New World
- […] feeling his erection making a tent in his pants.
- 2013, Nathan Lapointe, A Strange New World
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)
- (intransitive) To go camping.
- We’ll be tented at the campground this weekend.
- (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.
- (intransitive) To form into a tent-like shape.
- The sheet tented over his midsection.
Etymology 2
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”).
Verb
tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)
Noun
tent (plural tents)
Etymology 3
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)
Verb
tent (third-person singular simple present tents, present participle tenting, simple past and past participle tented)
- (medicine, sometimes figuratively) To probe or to search with a tent; to keep open with a tent.
- to tent a wound
- Shakespeare
- I'll tent him to the quick.
Etymology 4
Spanish tinto (“deep-colored”), from Latin tinctus, past participle of tingo (“to dye”). More at tinge, tint, tinto. Compare claret (“French red wine”), also from color.
Noun
tent (plural tents)
See also
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for tent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch tente, from Old French tente, from Vulgar Latin *tenta or *tenda.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tɛnt/
audio (file) - Hyphenation: tent
- Rhymes: -ɛnt