tent English · revision 10304

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1297|origins=fro tente|origins=la tendere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tɛnt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English tente, [[bor|fro|tente|t=tent, hanging, tapestry]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Medieval Latin tenta, literally something stretched out, the noun use of the feminine of Latin tentus, stretched, a past participle of tendere, to stretch (see [[tend]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from PIE *ten-, to stretch,^(Etymonline) from the phrase pellēs tendere, to stretch out skins, that is, to pitch tents.^(Hoad 1986) The notion is of skins or cloth stretched over a framework.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A portable shelter of skins or coarse cloth stretched over poles: 1297 in the OED, probably before 1300 in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Figuratively an abode or dwelling, as in ''to pitch one's tent'', it is from about 1366.^(OED 1989) A sheet or screen of canvas is from 1572,^(OED 1989) the silken web of the tent caterpillar from 1599,^(OED 1989) and an oxygen tent placed round a patient from 1892.^(OED 1989) The verb, to pitch a tent, is from the 1550s (1553, in Douglas's ''Aeneid''),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and to camp in a tent from 1856.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1297 – a portable shelter.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1366 – a dwelling (figurative).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1553 – to pitch a tent (verb).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1599 – a caterpillar's web.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1856 – to camp in a tent.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1892 – an oxygen tent.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A portable [[shelter]] of canvas or other material stretched over poles and held by ropes and pegs.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something resembling such a shelter in shape or use.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To camp in a tent.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To cover with or as with a tent.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tentless]]

+ * [[tentlike]]

+ * [[tentage]]

+ * [[tentmaker]]

+ * [[tent bed]]

+ * [[tent caterpillar]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tend]]

+ * [[tense]]

+ * [[tension]]

+ * [[tenterhooks]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Several other words are spelled tent: a roll of lint used to keep a wound open, from French tente, from tenter, to try (see [[tempt]]);^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)^(AHD) a deep-red Spanish wine, from Spanish tinto;^(SOED 2002) and the Scots and northern tent, attention, heed, short for [[attent]] or intent.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)^(AHD) In Scotland a tent was also an open-air pulpit.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}