tent
1 Americannoun
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a portable shelter of skins, canvas, plastic, or the like, supported by one or more poles or a frame and often secured by ropes fastened to pegs in the ground.
-
something that resembles a tent.
verb (used with object)
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to lodge in tents.
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to cover with or as if with a tent.
In winter the tennis courts are tented in plastic.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a roll or pledget, usually of soft absorbent material, as lint or gauze, for dilating an orifice, keeping a wound open, etc.
-
a probe.
verb (used with object)
verb (used with object)
noun
-
-
a portable shelter of canvas, plastic, or other waterproof material supported on poles and fastened to the ground by pegs and ropes
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( as modifier )
tent peg
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-
something resembling this in function or shape
verb
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(intr) to camp in a tent
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(tr) to cover with or as if with a tent or tents
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(tr) to provide with a tent as shelter
noun
verb
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to pay attention to; take notice of
-
to attend to
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
- tented adjective
- tenter noun
- tentless adjective
- tentlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of tent1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English tente, from Old French, from Latin tenta, feminine of tentus, past participle of tendere “to extend, stretch”
Origin of tent2
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English tent(e), teint(e) “a probe,” from Middle French tente “a probe, roll of lint,” noun derivative of tenter, from Latin tentāre, variant of temptāre tempt
Origin of tent3
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, tente(n), “to plan, intend, look after,” derivative of tent(e) “attention,” shortening of attent, past participle of attenden “to pay attention to, heed,” from Old French atente “attention, intention,” from Latin attenta, feminine of attentus, past participle of attendere to attend
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Across the tent, in a display of performance art, Amanda Ross-Ho continuously pushes a giant, inflatable Earth around a soccer field, symbolic of “the labor it takes to just keep things going all the time.”
From Los Angeles Times
Civil protection teams have set up a tent at the scene to help the injured.
From BBC
"It's actually like looking at a digital image of your new dinosaur and gawking over it in the tent in the middle of the Sahara."
From Barron's
These excursions hunted for evidence of Sir Franklin, and cached food, tents, and other supplies for future trips in the spring.
From Literature
There were sturdy wooden boxes near the tent; there was a small rickety table and a chair; there was a lamp.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
