Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

   2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

            Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our
            faces.                                --L'Estrange.

   3. Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship;
      immature; effeminate.

            The tender and delicate woman among you. --Deut.
                                                  xxviii. 56.

   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.

            The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
                                                  --James v. 11.

            I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper.
                                                  --Fuller.

   5. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.

            I love Valentine, Whose life's as tender to me as my
            soul!                                 --Shak.

   6. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of.
      ``Tender of property.'' --Burke.

            The civil authority should be tender of the honor of
            God and religion.                     --Tillotson.

   7. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild.

            You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, Will
            never do him good.                    --Shak.

   8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the
      softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender
      expostulations; a tender strain.

   9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a
      tender subject. ``Things that are tender and unpleasing.''
      --Bacon.

   10. (Naut.) Heeling over too easily when under sail; -- said
       of a vessel.

   Note: Tender is sometimes used in the formation of
         self-explaining compounds; as, tender-footed,
         tender-looking, tender-minded, tender-mouthed, and the
         like.

   Syn: Delicate; effeminate; soft; sensitive; compassionate;
        kind; humane; merciful; pitiful.