tenders

Noun (1)

tender (countable and uncountable, plural tenders)

1. (obsolete) Care, kind concern, regard.
   • Stay, and breath awhile.
     Thou haſt redeem'd thy loſt opinion
     And ſhew'd thou makeſt ſome tender of my life
     In this faire reſcue thou haſt brought to mee.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
2. The inner flight muscle (pectoralis minor) of poultry.

Noun (2)

tender (plural tenders)

1. A specialized rail wagon hauled behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.
   • Half the coal was out of the tender, half the fire out of the box, half the trucks were off the track, so violent was the stopping.1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 201
2. A naval ship that functions as a mobile base for other ships.
   • submarine tender
3. A smaller boat used for transportation between a large ship and the shore.
   • The transfer by tender of some 1,300 mail bags was effected smartly, and the "Ocean Mails Special" train was ready at 9.19 a.m.1944 July and August, Charles E. Lee, “The "City of Truro"”, in Railway Magazine, page 202

   Synonyms:

   dinghy

4. A member of a diving team who assists a diver during a dive but does not themselves go underwater.
   • Now, with scallop populations under pressure, Mr. Sewell is one of only about 30 active scallop divers left in his state. He and his tender, Jason Simmons, have harvested scallops together each winter and early spring for the past seven years. The rest of the year he catches bluefin tuna and dives...2015 August 18, Christoph Gelfand, “'Diving for Scallops'”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Dec 2022

See all 29 meanings of tender