tenty, a. Sc.
(ˈtɛntɪ)
Also tentie.
[Later form of tentif, tentive, with -if reduced to -ie, -y: see -ive.]
Watchful, attentive, observant, cautious.
| c 1555 Maitland in Pinkerton Anc. Scot. Poems (1786) 276 Be wyse, and tentie, in thy governing. 1728 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc., Bonny Scot iii, Fair winds and tenty boat-man. 1785 Burns Halloween viii, Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e; Wha 'twas, she wadna tell. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xii. 112 Never a gun or a sword left..but what tenty folk have hidden in their thatch. |