Chapter Tenonian to Tenuity of T by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Tentative
(Ten*ta"tive), n. [Cf. F. tentative.] An essay; a trial; an experiment. Berkley.

Tented
(Tent"ed) a. Covered with tents.

Tenter
(Ten"ter) n.

1. One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman.

2. (Mach.) A kind of governor.

Tenter
(Ten"ter), n. [OE. tenture, tentoure, OF. tenture a stretching, spreading, F. tenture hangings, tapestry, from L. tendere, tentum, to stretch. See Tend to move.] A machine or frame for stretching cloth by means of hooks, called tenter-hooks, so that it may dry even and square.

Tenter ground, a place where tenters are erected. — Tenter-hook, a sharp, hooked nail used for fastening cloth on a tenter. — To be on the tenters, or on the tenter-hooks, to be on the stretch; to be in distress, uneasiness, or suspense. Hudibras.

Tenter
(Ten"ter), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tentered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Tentering.] To admit extension.

Woolen cloth will tenter, linen scarcely.

Bacon.

Tenter
(Ten"ter), v. t. To hang or stretch on, or as on, tenters.

Tentful
(Tent"ful) n.; pl. Tentfuls As much, or as many, as a tent will hold.

Tenth
(Tenth) a. [From Ten: cf. OE. tethe, AS. teóa. See Ten, and cf. Tithe.]

1. Next in order after the ninth; coming after nine others.

2. Constituting or being one of ten equal parts into which anything is divided.

Tenth
(Tenth) n.

1. The next in order after the ninth; one coming after nine others.

2. The quotient of a unit divided by ten; one of ten equal parts into which anything is divided.

3. The tenth part of annual produce, income, increase, or the like; a tithe. Shak.

4. (Mus.) The interval between any tone and the tone represented on the tenth degree of the staff above it, as between one of the scale and three of the octave above; the octave of the third.

5. pl. (Eng. Law) (a) A temporary aid issuing out of personal property, and granted to the king by Parliament; formerly, the real tenth part of all the movables belonging to the subject. (b) (Eccl. Law) The tenth part of the annual profit of every living in the kingdom, formerly paid to the pope, but afterward transferred to the crown. It now forms a part of the fund called Queen Anne's Bounty. Burrill.

Tenthly
(Tenth"ly), adv. In a tenth manner.

Tenthmeter
(Tenth"me`ter, Tenth"me`tre) n. (Physics) A unit for the measurement of many small lengths, such that 10¹⁰ of these units make one meter; the ten millionth part of a millimeter.

Tenthredinides
(||Ten`thre*din"i*des) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. a kind of wasp.] (Zoöl.) A group of Hymneoptera comprising the sawflies.

Tentif
(Ten"tif) a. Attentive. [Obs.] Chaucer.