To tend a vessel
(Naut.),
to manage an anchored vessel when the tide turns, so that in swinging she
shall not entangle the cable.
Tend
(Tend), v. i.
1. To wait, as attendants or servants; to serve; to attend; — with on or upon.
Was he not companion with the riotous knights
That tend upon my father?
Shak. 2. [F. attendre.] To await; to expect. [Obs.] Shak.
Tend
(Tend), v. i. [F. tendre, L. tendere, tensum and tentum, to stretch, extend, direct one's course,
tend; akin to Gr. to stretch, Skr. tan. See Thin, and cf. Tend to attend, Contend, Intense, Ostensible,
Portent, Tempt, Tender to offer, Tense, a.]
1. To move in a certain direction; — usually with to or towards.
Two gentlemen tending towards that sight.
Sir H. Wotton.
Thus will this latter, as the former world,
Still tend from bad to worse.
Milton.
The clouds above me to the white Alps tend.
Byron. 2. To be directed, as to any end, object, or purpose; to aim; to have or give a leaning; to exert activity or
influence; to serve as a means; to contribute; as, our petitions, if granted, might tend to our destruction.
The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.
Prov. xxi. 5.
The laws of our religion tend to the universal happiness of mankind.
Tillotson.