attend

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English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English attenden, atenden, from Old French atendre (“to attend, listen”), from Latin attendere (“to stretch toward, give heed to”), from ad (“to”) + tendere (“to stretch”); see tend and compare attempt.

Verb[edit]

attend (third-person singular simple present attends, present participle attending, simple past and past participle attended)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To listen to (something or someone); to pay attention to; regard; heed. [from 15th c.]
    • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:
      The diligent pilot in a dangerous tempest doth not attend the unskilful words of the passenger.
    • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section IX. A Digression Concerning the Original, the Use and Improvement of Madness in a Commonwealth.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 169–170:
      The preſent Argument is the moſt abſtracted that ever I engaged in, it ſtrains my Faculties to their higheſt Stretch; and I deſire the Reader to attend with utmoſt perpenſity; For, I now proceed to unravel this knotty Point.
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To listen (to, unto). [from 15th c.]
  4. (intransitive) To turn one's consideration (to); to deal with (a task, problem, concern etc.), to look after. [from 15th c.]
    Secretaries attend to correspondence.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To wait upon as a servant etc.; to accompany to assist (someone). [from 15th c.]
    Valets attend to their employer's wardrobe.
    Servants attend the king day and night.
  7. (transitive) To be present at (an event or place) in order to take part in some action or proceedings; to regularly go to (an event or place). [from 17th c.]
    Children must attend primary school.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.
    • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, published 2010, page 20:
      I attended a one-room school next door to the palace and studied English, Xhosa, history and geography.
  8. (intransitive, law) To go to (a place) for some purpose (with at).
    • 2011, Supreme Court of Canada, R. v. Côté‎[1], retrieved 2016-05-08:
      Around 12:15 a.m. patrolling officers Tremblay and Mathieu attended at the appellant’s home.
    • 2016, Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal, R. v. Yeo‎[2], retrieved 2016-05-08:
      There were a few errors in the testimony of [a civilian witness] which the trial judge noted – one, that they attended at the Fairhurst residence the day before the robbery, and two, that Wakelin was with them.
  9. To be present with; to accompany; to be united or consequent to.
    a measure attended with ill effects
    • 1697, John Dryden, The Georgics:
      What cares must then attend the toiling swain.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
  10. To wait for; to await; to remain, abide, or be in store for.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
to be at an event
to give attention to
Translations[edit]
(archaic in English) to listen — see listen
to wait upon as a servant etc.; to accompany to assist (someone) — see attend to,‎ wait on
to be present with; to accompany; to be united or consequent to — see accompany

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English attenden, atenden, from Old English ātendan (“to set on fire, kindle, inflame, trouble, perplex”), equivalent to a- +‎ tend.

Verb[edit]

attend (third-person singular simple present attends, present participle attending, simple past and past participle attended)

  1. Alternative form of atend ("to kindle").
Related terms[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Participle[edit]

attend

  1. present participle of atten

Declension[edit]

Inflection of attend
uninflected attend
inflected attende
positive
predicative/adverbial attend
attende
indefinite m./f. sing. attende
n. sing. attend
plural attende
definite attende
partitive attends

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

attend

  1. third-person singular present indicative of attendre

Anagrams[edit]

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