Tenderer

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Tender \Ten"der\, a. [Compar. {Tenderer}; superl. {Tenderest}.]
     [F. tendre, L. tener; probably akin to tenuis thin. See
     {Thin}.]
     1. Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or
        hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender
        fruit.


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     2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
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              Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our
              faces.                                --L'Estrange.
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     3. Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship;
        immature; effeminate.
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              The tender and delicate woman among you. --Deut.
                                                    xxviii. 56.
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     4. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion,
        kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's
        good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor;
        sympathetic.
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              The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
                                                    --James v. 11.
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              I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper.
                                                    --Fuller.
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     5. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.
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              I love Valentine,
              Whose life's as tender to me as my soul! --Shak.
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     6. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of.
        "Tender of property." --Burke.
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              The civil authority should be tender of the honor of
              God and religion.                     --Tillotson.
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     7. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild.
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              You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
              Will never do him good.               --Shak.
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     8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the
        softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender
        expostulations; a tender strain.
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     9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a
        tender subject. "Things that are tender and unpleasing."
        --Bacon.
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     10. (Naut.) Heeling over too easily when under sail; -- said
         of a vessel.
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     Note: Tender is sometimes used in the formation of
           self-explaining compounds; as, tender-footed,
           tender-looking, tender-minded, tender-mouthed, and the
           like.
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     Syn: Delicate; effeminate; soft; sensitive; compassionate;
          kind; humane; merciful; pitiful.
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