tender

Everyday

1. Soft and easy to cut or chew (tender meat). tree →
2. Painful when touched (a tender bruise). tree →
3. Gentle, kind and loving (a tender smile). tree →
4. Young and not experienced (at a tender age). tree →
5. (formal verb) To offer or give something formally (tender your resignation, tender money). tree →
6. (noun) A formal offer to do a job for a price. tree →
7. (noun) A small boat that carries people to a bigger ship, or a wagon behind a steam train carrying coal. tree →
8. «Legal tender»: money that must be accepted in payment. tree →

In the lessons

In cooking (tender vegetables), first aid (a tender ankle), stories (a tender moment), money (legal tender, tender the exact amount), business (put out to tender). Phrases: «tender loving care», «at a tender age», «legal tender».

Examples

• Cook the carrots until they are tender. tree →
• My knee is still tender where I fell. tree →
• She gave the puppy a tender pat. tree →
• He started piano at the tender age of four. tree →
• Please tender the exact fare. tree →
• The builders put in a tender for the new school. tree →
• Coins and notes are legal tender. tree →
• We took a tender from the cruise ship to the shore. tree →
• From the old roots shot forth new tender stems. tree →

Note

Many meanings — use the sentence to choose. Adverb «tenderly», noun «tenderness». In maths and money: «tendered» = handed over (she tendered £10 for a £7 item, change = £3).

In Jewish tradition

Interpretation: In the Psalms, God's "tender mercies" are His deep, gentle kindness over all His works, and tradition reads this as one of God's qualities of mercy. Job's "tenderer" flesh means soft, like a child's after healing. In the primary lessons: In cooking (tender vegetables), first aid (a tender ankle), stories (a tender moment), money (legal tender, tender the exact amount), business (put out to tender). Phrases: «tender loving care», «at a tender age», «legal tender».

Examples

• And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it. (Torah GEN.18.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. (Torah DEU.32.2, JPS 1917) tree →
• The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his children whom he hath remaining; (Torah DEU.28.54, JPS 1917) tree →
• His flesh is tenderer than a child's; he returneth to the days of his youth; (Writings JOB.33.25, JPS 1917) tree →
• Who redeemeth Thy life from the pit; who encompasseth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; (Writings PSA.103.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• The LORD is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works. (Writings PSA.145.9, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Many meanings — use the sentence to choose. Adverb «tenderly», noun «tenderness». In maths and money: «tendered» = handed over (she tendered £10 for a £7 item, change = £3).

Early Modern English

Meaning

Young, soft or delicate; in the first sentence it means a young calf, and in the third it means young, soft grass. tree →

Then and now

Today "tender" usually means soft and easy to cut or chew, or loving and gentle. The old sense includes young and delicate, and all three sentences use that sense.

Examples

• And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it. (Torah GEN.18.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• Oh, how tender and wearied her little feet were! (Andersen's Fairy Tales) tree →
• My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. (Torah DEU.32.2, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Today: young, soft.