What is the difference between tend and intend?
tend | intend |
(legal, Old English law) To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
(followed by a to infinitive) To be likely, or probable to do something, or to have a certain characteristic.
(with to) To look after (e.g. an ill person.)
To accompany as an assistant or protector; to care for the wants of; to look after; to watch; to guard.
* Emerson
To wait (upon), as attendants or servants; to serve; to attend.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To await; to expect.
(obsolete) To be attentive to; to note carefully; to attend to.
* Chapman
(nautical) To manage (an anchored vessel) when the tide turns, to prevent it from entangling the cable when swinging.
To fix the mind upon (something to be accomplished); be intent upon; mean; design; plan; purpose.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1
, passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
*{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1
, passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=
, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= To fix the mind on; attend to; take care of; superintend; regard.
(obsolete) To stretch to extend; distend.
To strain; make tense.
(obsolete) To intensify; strengthen.
*, Bk.I, New York, 2001, p.139:
To apply with energy.
To bend or turn; direct, as one’s course or journey.
To design mechanically or artistically; ; mold.
To pretend; counterfeit; simulate.
In obsolete terms the difference between tend and intend
is that tend is to be attentive to; to note carefully; to attend to while intend is to intensify; strengthen.As verbs the difference between tend and intend
is that tend is to kindle; ignite; set on fire; light; inflame; burn while intend is to fix the mind upon (something to be accomplished); be intent upon; mean; design; plan; purpose.tend
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) tenden, from (etyl) . Related to (l).Alternative forms
* (l), (l), (l), (l), (l) * (l), (l), (l), (l) (Scotland)Derived terms
* (l), (l)Etymology 2
From (etyl) *.Verb
(en verb)- They tend to go out on Saturdays.
- It tends to snow here in winter.
Usage notes
* In sense 2. this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. * SeeDerived terms
* tendencySee also
* be given toEtymology 3
From (etyl) . More at (l).Verb
(en verb)- We need to tend to the garden, which has become a mess.
- Shepherds tend their flocks.
- There's not a sparrow or a wren, / There's not a blade of autumn grain, / Which the four seasons do not tend / And tides of life and increase lend.
- Was he not companion with the riotous knights / That tend upon my father?
- (Shakespeare)
- Being to descend / A ladder much in height, I did not tend / My way well down.
External links
* * *Anagrams
* ----intend
English
Verb
(en verb)George Goodchild
Ed Pilkington
‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
- Dotage, fatuity, or follyis for the most part intended or remitted in particular men, and thereupon some are wiser than others […].