'tend

Verb (1)

tend (third-person singular simple present tends, present participle tending, simple past and past participle tended)

1. To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
2. (auxiliary) To be likely, or probable to do something, or to have a certain habit or leaning.
   • They tend to go out on Saturdays.
3. (intransitive) To contribute to or toward some outcome.
   • She had found in her everything that could tend to make a farther connection between the families undesirable.1811, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume III, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

Verb (2)

tend (third-person singular simple present tends, present participle tending, simple past and past participle tended)

1. To look after (e.g. an ill person.)
   • We need to tend to the garden, which has become a mess.

   Synonyms:

   care for, minister to, nurse, to, take care of

2. To accompany as an assistant or protector; to care for the wants of; to look after; to watch; to guard.
   • Shepherds tend their flocks.

   Synonyms:

   guard, look after, watch

3. To wait (upon), as attendants or servants; to serve; to attend.
   • Was he not companion with the riotous knights / That tend upon my father?c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

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