Etymology: < intend v.

Etymology: Middle English < French entend-re , in 14–15th cent. also intendre , to stretch, extend, strain, direct one's thoughts or faculties, to hear, understand, expect, occupy oneself (also reflexive) < Latin intendĕre to stretch out or forth, to strain, direct, spread out, increase, turn one's attention, purpose, endeavour, maintain, assert; in medieval Latin, also, to understand, interpret, < in- (in- prefix³) + tendĕre to stretch, to tend v.²The extensive and complex development of senses in Latin and Old French is reflected also in English. But the chronological appearance of the senses here does not accord with their original development; those first taken over from French in 13–14th cent. being figurative uses, far removed from the literal sense, which was only adopted directly < Latin about or after 1600. As an attempt at chronological order would only end in chaos, a logical arrangement, according in the main with the development as gathered from all three languages, is here followed. But the history of some senses is obscure: see VI. The sense of early quotations is also often difficult to determine.