1. [n]  a portable shelter (usually of canvas stretched over supporting poles and fastened to the ground with ropes and pegs); "he pitched his tent near the creek"
2. [v]  live in or as if in a tent; "Can we go camping again this summer?"; "The circus tented near the town"; "The houseguests had to camp in the living room"

1. \Tent\, n. [Sp. tinto, properly, deep-colored, fr. L.
   tinctus, p. p. of tingere to dye. See {Tinge}, and cf.
   {Tint}, {Tinto}.]
   A kind of wine of a deep red color, chiefly from Galicia or
   Malaga in Spain; -- called also {tent wine}, and {tinta}.
   

2. \Tent\, n. [Cf. {Attent}, n.]
   1. Attention; regard, care. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
      --Lydgate.
   2. Intention; design. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
   

3. \Tent\, v. t.
   To attend to; to heed; hence, to guard; to hinder. [Prov.
   Eng. & Scot.] --Halliwell.
   

4. \Tent\, v. t. [OF. tenter. See {Tempt}.]
   To probe or to search with a tent; to keep open with a tent;
   as, to tent a wound. Used also figuratively.
         I'll tent him to the quick.              --Shak.
   

5. \Tent\, n. [F. tente. See {Tent} to probe.] (Surg.)
   (a) A roll of lint or linen, or a conical or cylindrical
       piece of sponge or other absorbent, used chiefly to
       dilate a natural canal, to keep open the orifice of a
       wound, or to absorb discharges.
   (b) A probe for searching a wound.
             The tent that searches To the bottom of the worst.
                                                  --Shak.
   

6. \Tent\, n. [OE. tente, F. tente, LL. tenta, fr. L. tendere,
   tentum, to stretch. See {Tend} to move, and cf. {Tent} a roll
   of lint.]
   1. A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas,
      or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, --
      used for sheltering persons from the weather, especially
      soldiers in camp.
            Within his tent, large as is a barn.  --Chaucer.
   2. (Her.) The representation of a tent used as a bearing.
   {Tent bed}, a high-post bedstead curtained with a tentlike
      canopy.
   {Tent caterpillar} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of
      gregarious caterpillars which construct on trees large
      silken webs into which they retreat when at rest. Some of
      the species are very destructive to fruit trees. The most
      common American species is the larva of a bombycid moth
      ({Clisiocampa Americana}). Called also {lackery
      caterpillar}, and {webworm}.
   

7. \Tent\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Tented}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Tenting}.]
   To lodge as a tent; to tabernacle. --Shak.
         We 're tenting to-night on the old camp ground. --W.
                                                  Kittredge.
   

(1.) Heb. 'ohel (Gen. 9:21, 27). This word is used also of a dwelling or habitation (1 Kings 8:66; Isa. 16:5; Jer. 4:20), and of the temple (Ezek. 41:1). When used of the tabernacle, as in 1 Kings 1:39, it denotes the covering of goat's hair which was placed over the mishcan.

(2.) Heb. mishcan (Cant. 1:8), used also of a dwelling (Job 18:21; Ps. 87:2), the grave (Isa. 22:16; comp. 14:18), the temple (Ps. 46:4; 84:2; 132:5), and of the tabernacle (Ex. 25:9; 26:1; 40:9; Num. 1:50, 53; 10:11). When distinguished from 'ohel, it denotes the twelve interior curtains which lay upon the framework of the tabernacle (q.v.).

(3.) Heb. kubbah (Num. 25:8), a dome-like tent devoted to the impure worship of Baal-peor.

(4.) Heb. succah (2 Sam. 11:11), a tent or booth made of green boughs or branches (see Gen. 33:17; Lev. 23:34, 42; Ps. 18:11; Jonah 4:5; Isa. 4:6; Neh. 8:15-17, where the word is variously rendered).

Jubal was "the father of such as dwell in tents" (Gen. 4:20). The patriarchs were "dwellers in tents" (Gen. 9:21, 27; 12:8; 13:12; 26:17); and during their wilderness wanderings all Israel dwelt in tents (Ex. 16:16; Deut. 33:18; Josh. 7:24). Tents have always occupied a prominent place in Eastern life (1 Sam. 17:54; 2 Kings 7:7; Ps. 120:5; Cant. 1:5). Paul the apostle's occupation was that of a tent-maker (Acts 18:3); i.e., perhaps a maker of tent cloth.