From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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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