Also 5 -our. [f. TEND v.1 + -ER1, or aphetic form of ATTENDER.]
1. † One who tends, or waits upon, another; an attendant, nurse, ministrant (obs.); a waiter; an assistant to a builder or other skilled workman (dial.).
c. 1470. Henryson, Orpheus & Eur., 20. The anseane and sad wyse men of age Wer tendouris to ȝung and Insolent, To mak þame in all vertewis excellent.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 139. Two hundred horsemen in Moscouie, require three hundred packehorses, and so many tenders, who must all be fedde.
1637. Brian, Pisse-Proph., iii. (1679), 25. Some nurse or tender of sick persons.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 285. As Waiters, Tenders or Servitors to execute and obey the Commands of the Spirit of the Lord.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Tender, a waiter at a public table, or place of entertainment.
c. 1830. Glouc. Farm Rep., 11, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. On the other rick there are one or two builders, with a sufficiency of tenders to carry on the work with expedition and efficiency.
1880. W. Cornw. Gloss., Tendar, a waiter at an inn; the guard of a train.
2. One who attends to, or has charge of, a machine, a business, etc., as bartender (a barman), bridge-tender, machine-tender; now esp. U.S.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 671. That the engine tender may not be at a loss when to throw his machinery into geer.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, vi. 107. The machines … prove too much for their tenders.
1876. J. H. Delafield, The Last Drop, ii. An honest bartender can’t make any stamps, if he’s always hanging everybody up.
1883. Daily News, 16 Oct., 6/2. The bar tender [in U.S.] … demanded payment.
1897. Rhoscomyl, White Rose Arno, 94. ‘Show thy brass then,’ said the bridge tender.
1910. Times, 18 May, 10/2. Dissatisfaction among the power-loom tenders at their scale of pay…. The wages of the tenders … were increased to 35s.
3. A ship or boat employed to attend a larger one in various capacities. a. Originally, A vessel commissioned to attend men-of-war, chiefly for supplying provisions and munitions of war, also for conveying intelligence, dispatches, etc. Now, in the British Royal Navy, A vessel commissioned to act (in any capacity) under the orders of another vessel, her officers and crew being borne on the ship’s books of the latter (called the parent ship).
In current use the term includes torpedo-boats and torpedo-boat destroyers. All the ‘destroyers’ of a flotilla are technically tenders of the depôt-ship, although this exists merely in order to carry stores for them, and the necessary staff for doing their clerical work.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1054/2. Here are arrived five Dutch Men of War, and four Tenders. Ibid. (1710), No. 4677/3. Yesterday … came down hither her Majesty’s Ship the Lyme, with the Star-Bomb and her Tender.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. IX. 291. The greater seem’d only to be the retinue or tenders upon the less.
1772. Hist. Rochester, 18. A tender in the river … employed in pressing seamen.
1812. Shelley, Lett. to Miss Hitchener, 10 March. A Magistrate … gave him the alternative of the tender or of military servitude.
1898. Whitaker’s Almanack, 223/1. Cockchafer, 2nd cl. gunboat … tender to Rodney [1st cl. battle-ship, used as coastguard] Queensferry N.
β. 1906. King’s Regul. & Admiralty Instr., Art. 1802 § 2. The Officer in charge of stores in the parent ship is to be responsible, and is to account for stores supplied to the tender.
1910. Naval & Mil. Rec., 21 Sept. The Wear, destroyer,… recommissioned … for service in the third (Nore) Destroyer flotilla as tender to the St. George.
b. In general use, A small steamer used to carry passengers, luggage, mails, goods, stores, etc., to or from a larger vessel (usually a liner), esp. when not otherwise accessible from shore. Also, in U.S., a boat or ship attending on fishing or whaling ships, to carry supplies to them, and to bring the fish, oil, or whalebone, to the ports or landing places.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxi. (1856), 162. It was wisely determined by … old Sir John that he would leave the Mary, his tender of twelve tons.
1868. Daily News, 20 July. As the tender was puffing out to us in Queenstown Harbour.
1887. J. Ball, Nat. in S. Amer., 28. To go on board a small tender that lay alongside of a half-ruined wharf.
1910. Agnes Weston, Life among Bluejackets, 54. We waited at the Royal Hotel, Plymouth, for the signal that the tender would shortly put off.
c. fig.
1700. Congreve, Way of World, II. v. Here she comes, i’ faith, full sail, with a shoal of fools for tenders.
1865. Even. Standard, 6 June. [A weekly newspaper] a tender to this peculating concern … conducted upon the same principle, or with the same lack of principle.
1889. Daily News, 27 Dec., 2/3. They are jolly tars and have a couple of smart-looking tenders [sweethearts] in tow.
4. A carriage specially constructed to carry fuel and water for a locomotive engine, to the rear of which it is attached.
1825. Maclaren, Railways, 32, note. A small waggon bearing water and coals follows close behind the engine, and is called the Tender, i. e. the ‘Attender.’
1878. F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 662. The tender will hold 2320 gallons of water, it has a coal space for 4 tons.
attrib. 1838. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 134/1. The same apparatus may be attached to the tender axles.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 6 Feb., 7/2. In the outrush of water from the tender tank.
1897. Daily News, 1 Sept., 2/2. He applied the vacuum brake and the fireman the tender brake, but could not stop the engine.
5. In specific technical uses: see quots.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tender … small reservoir attached to a mop, scrubber, or similar utensil.
1894. Northumbld. Gloss., Tender, in a pit, the former name for a small rapper or signal rope.
