tent Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a portable shelter (usually of canvas stretched over supporting poles and fastened to the ground with ropes and pegs)
    collapsible shelter.
    • he pitched his tent near the creek
  2. noun a web that resembles a tent or carpet
  3. verb live in or as if in a tent
    bivouac; camp; encamp; camp out.
    • Can we go camping again this summer?
    • The circus tented near the town
    • The houseguests had to camp in the living room

WordNet

Tent noun
Etymology
Sp. tinto, properly, deep-colored, fr. L. tinctus, p.p. of tingere to dye. See Tinge, and cf. Tint, Tinto.
Definitions
  1. A kind of wine of a deep red color, chiefly from Galicia or Malaga in Spain; -- called also tent wine, and tinta.
Tent noun
Etymology
Cf. Attent, n.
Definitions
  1. Attention; regard, care. Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot. Lydgate.
  2. Intention; design. Prov. Eng. Halliwell.
Tent transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To attend to; to heed; hence, to guard; to hinder. Prov. Eng. & Scot. Halliwell.
Tent transitive verb
Etymology
OF. tenter. See Tempt.
Definitions
  1. To probe or to search with a tent; to keep open with a tent; as, to tent a wound. Used also figuratively.
    I'll tent him to the quick. Shak.
Tent noun
Etymology
F. tente. See Tent to probe.
Definitions
  1. (Surg.) (a) A roll of lint or linen, or a conical or cylindrical piece of sponge or other absorbent, used chiefly to dilate a natural canal, to keep open the orifice of a wound, or to absorb discharges. (b) A probe for searching a wound.
    The tent that searches To the bottom of the worst. Shak.
Tent noun
Etymology
OE. tente, F. tente, LL. tenta, fr. L. tendere, tentum, to stretch. See Tend to move, and cf. Tent a roll of lint.
Definitions
  1. A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, -- used for sheltering persons from the weather, especially soldiers in camp.
    Within his tent, large as is a barn. Chaucer.
  2. (Her.) The representation of a tent used as a bearing.
Tent intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Tented; present participle & verbal noun Tenting
Definitions
  1. To lodge as a tent; to tabernacle. Shak.
    We 're tenting to-night on the old camp ground. W. Kittredge.

Webster 1913