Also 6 tendre, tendour. [f. TENDER v.1] An act of tendering.
1. Law. A formal offer duly made by one party to another.
Tender of amends, an offer of compensation by the delinquent party. Tender of issue, a plea which in effect invites the adverse party to join issue upon it.
1562–3. Act 5 Eliz., c. 1 § 17. All suche persons shalbee compellable to take the Othe upon the seconde Tender or Offer of the same.
1647. Hammond, Power of Keys, iv. 60. This magisteriall affirmation having no tender or offer of proof annext to it.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. i. 15. If tender of amends is made before any action is brought.
1848. Wharton, Law Lex., s.v., A tender of satisfaction is allowed to be made in most actions for money demands,… and a tender to one of several joint creditors is sufficient. Ibid. (1872), s.v. Amends, Tender of Amends, is by particular statutes made a defence in an action for a wrong.
b. spec. An offer of money, or the like, in discharge of a debt or liability, esp. an offer which thus fulfills the terms of the law and of the liability.
Plea of tender, a plea advanced by a defendant that he has always been ready to pay and has tendered to the plaintiff the amount due, which he now produces in court.
1542–3. Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 2 § 2. The same Collectour … as shall so make tendre of all suche money.
1544. trans. Littleton’s Tenures (1574), 70. Where such lawefall tender of the money is made.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 966. The defendant pleaded non-assumpsit as to all except 3l., and as to that a tender.
1863. A. J. Horwood, Yearbks. 30 & 31 Edw. I., Pref. 26, note. The reason for the tender of the demy-mark in a writ of right.
1883. Wharton’s Law Lex., s.v., By the Coinage Act, 1870…, it is provided that a tender of payment of money, if made in coins legally issued by the Mint … shall be a legal tender.
2. gen. An offer of anything for acceptance.
1577. Harrison, England, Pref. I dare presume to make tendour of the protection thereof vnto your Lordships hands.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. iii. 100. O. He hath my Lord of late made many tenders Of his affection to me. P. … Doe you beleeue his tenders, as you call them?
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), V. lxxi. 286. [He] made a tender of his sword and purse to the prince of Orange.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 287. They had not yet been put into possession of the royal authority by a formal tender and a formal acceptance.
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, l. 6. Tenders jocular o’er the merry wine-cup.
3. Comm. An offer made in writing by one party to another (usually to a public body) to execute, at an inclusive price or uniform rate, an order for the supply or purchase of goods, or for the execution of work, the details of which have been submitted, often through the public press, by the second party.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 14 July. The business of Captain Cocke’s tender of hempe.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2636/3. The Principal Officers and Commissioners of Their Majesties Navy,… will … be ready to receive any Tenders…, and to Treat and Contract with the Tenderers thereof.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 291/2. The privilege … is disposed of by tender.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., xxiii. (1876), 312. The Government … may fix the sum and invite tenders for the lowest amount of interest at which borrowers will be willing to make the loan.
1882. Statist, X. 485. The lowest tender was accepted.
4. (esp. legal, lawful, or common tender.) Money or other things that may be legally tendered or offered in payment; currency prescribed by law as that in which payment may be made.
In the British Isles, current bronze and silver coins are legal tender for sums not exceeding one shilling and forty shillings, respectively; current gold coins are legal tender for any amount. Bank of England notes are legal tender (except by the Bank of Eng.) in England and Wales only.
1740. W. Douglass, Disc. Curr. Brit. Plant. Amer., 20. France never made their State Bills a common Tender.
1765. T. Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., I. i. 27. Indian corn … was made a tender in discharge of all debt.
1777. Jrnls. Amer. Congress, 14 June. Recommended … to pass laws to make the bills of credit, issued by the Congress, a lawful tender, in payments of public and private debts.
1810. Ricardo, High Price of Bullion, 30, note. An excess in the market above the mint price of gold or silver bullion, may, whilst the coins of both metals are legal tender, and there is no prohibition against the coinage of either metal, be caused by a variation in the relative value of those metals.
1838–42. Arnold, Hist. Rome, II. xxvii. 73. Land and cattle became legal tender at a certain fixed rate of value.
1866. Crump, Banking, iv. 95. A cheque is not a legal tender, and for that reason may be objected to.
1883. Gilmour, Mongols, xxxii. 369. In Urga, brick tea and silver are the common tenders.
