tender

from The Century Dictionary.

• To regard or treat with compassion, solicitude, fondness, or care; cherish; hence, to hold dear; value; esteem.
• To make tender, in any sense.
• To offer; make offer of; present for acceptance: as, to tender one a complimentary dinner; to tender one's resignation.
• To offer in payment or satisfaction of some demand or obligation: as, to tender the (exact) amount of rent due.
• To show; present to view.
• To make a tender or offer; especially, to offer to supply certain commodities for a certain period at rates and under conditions specified, or to execute certain work: as, to tender for the dredging of a harbor.
• noun An offer for acceptance.
• noun Specifically In law, an offer of money or any other thing in satisfaction of a debt or liability; especially, the production and offer to pay or deliver the very thing requirable by a contract.
• noun An offer in writing made by one party to another to execute some specified work or to supply certain specified articles at a certain sum or rate, or to purchase something at a specified price.
• noun Something tendered or offered.
• Thin; slender; attenuated; fine: literally or figuratively.
• Of fine or delicate quality; delicate; fine; soft: as, a tender glow of color.
• Soft; thin; watery.
• Delicate to the touch, or yielding readily to the action of a cutting instrument or to a blow; not tough or hard; especially, soft and easily masticated: as, tender meat.
• Soft; impressible; susceptible; sensitive; compassionate; easily touched, affected, or influenced: as, a tender heart.
• Expressing sensitive feeling; expressing the gentle emotions, as love or pity, especially the former; kindly; loving; affectionate; fond.
• Delicate in constitution, consistency, texture, etc.; fragile; easily injured, broken, or bruised.
• Delicate as regards health; weakly.
• Very sensitive to impression; very susceptible of any sensation or emotion; easily pained.
• Not strong; not hardy; not able to endure hardship or rough treatment; delicate; weak.
• Fresh; immature; feeble; young and inexperienced.
• Precious; dear.
• Careful; solicitous; considerate; watchful; concerned; unwilling to pain or injure; scrupulous: with of or over.
• Delicate; ticklish; apt to give pain if inconsiderately or roughly dealt with or referred to; requiring careful handling so as not to annoy or give pain: as, a tender subject.
• Quick; keen; sharp.
• Of ships, apt to lean over under sail; tender-sided: same as crank, 1.
• Yielding to a small force; sensitive.
• noun A tender regard; fondness; affection; regard.
• noun One who tends; one who attends to, supervises, or takes care of something; a nurse: as, a machine-tender; a bartender.
• noun Nautical, a vessel employed to attend a larger one for supplying her with provisions and other stores, or to convey intelligence, orders, etc.
• noun A boat or ship accompanying fishing- or whaling-vessels; a lighter.
• noun In railroading, a carriage attached to the locomotive, for carrying the fuel, water, etc. See cuts under passenger-engine and snow-plow.
• noun A small reservoir attached to a mop or scrubber, to hold a supply of water. The flow is controlled by a valve operated by a spring.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One who tends; one who takes care of any person or thing; a nurse.
• noun (Naut.) A vessel employed to attend other vessels, to supply them with provisions and other stores, to convey intelligence, or the like.
• noun A car attached to a locomotive, for carrying a supply of fuel and water.
• transitive verb (Law) To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture.
• transitive verb To offer in words; to present for acceptance.
• transitive verb obsolete To have a care of; to be tender toward; hence, to regard; to esteem; to value.
• noun obsolete Regard; care; kind concern.
• noun (Law) An offer, either of money to pay a debt, or of service to be performed, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture, which would be incurred by nonpayment or nonperformance.
• noun Any offer or proposal made for acceptance
• noun The thing offered; especially, money offered in payment of an obligation.
• noun See under Legal.
• noun (Law) a form of words in a pleading, by which a party offers to refer the question raised upon it to the appropriate mode of decision.
• adjective Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate.
• adjective Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
• adjective Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship; immature; effeminate.
• adjective Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor; sympathetic.
• adjective Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.