Tent , v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tented; p. pr. & vb. n. Tenting.]
To lodge as a tent; to tabernacle. Shak.
We 're
tenting to-night on the old camp ground.
W. Kittredge.
Tent (?), n. [OE.
tente, F. tente, LL. tenta, fr. L. tendere, tentum, to stretch. See Tend to move, and cf. Tent a roll
of lint.]
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
bed, a high-post bedstead curtained with a tentlike canopy. -- Tent caterpillar
(Zoöl.), any one of several species of gregarious caterpillars which construct on trees large silken webs into which they retreat when at rest. Some
of the species are very destructive to fruit trees. The most common American species is the larva of
a bombycid moth (Clisiocampa Americana). Called also lackery caterpillar, and webworm.
Tent , n. [F. tente. See Tent to probe.]
(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 , v. t. [OF. tenter. See Tempt.]
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 , v. t. To attend to; to
heed; hence, to guard; to hinder. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
Halliwell.
Tent , n. [Cf. Attent, n.]
1. Attention; regard, care. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Lydgate.
2. Intention; design.
[Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Tent (?), n. [Sp. tinto, properly, deep-colored, fr. L. tinctus, p. p. of tingere to dye. See
Tinge, and cf. Tint, Tinto.]
A kind of
wine of a deep red color, chiefly from Galicia or Malaga in Spain; -- called also tent wine, and
tinta.
Hear it pronounced