tents

tents

portable canvas shelters: The homeless are living in tents by the river.

Not to be confused with:

tense – stretched tight; high-strung: She is overly tense.; a category of verbal inflection

tints – a color or variety of color; hue: Use pastel tints for the walls.

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

tent1

top to bottom: A-frame, dome, and cabin tents

tent ¹

 (tĕnt)

n.

1. A portable shelter made of fabric or other material stretched over a supporting framework of poles and usually stabilized or secured to the ground with cords and stakes.

2. Something resembling such a portable shelter in construction or outline: "her hair a dark tent, her face a thin triangle" (Anne Tyler).

v. tent·ed, tent·ing, tents

v.intr.

To camp in a tent.

v.tr.

1. To form a tent over.

2. To supply with or put up in tents.

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[Middle English, from Old French tente, from Vulgar Latin *tendita, from feminine past participle of Latin tendere, to stretch out; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

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tent ²

 (tĕnt)

n.

A small cylindrical plug of lint or gauze used to keep open or probe a wound or an orifice.

tr.v. tent·ed, tent·ing, tents

To keep (a wound or orifice) open with such a plug.

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[Middle English tente, from Old French, from tenter, to probe, from Latin tentāre, to feel, try; see tentative.]

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tent ³

 (tĕnt)

tr.v. tent·ed, tent·ing, tents Scots

1. To pay heed to.

2. To attend; wait on.

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[Middle English tenten, from tent, attention, short for attent, from Old French attente, from Vulgar Latin *attendita, from feminine past participle of Latin attendere, to wait on; see attend.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.