Meaning of tenderful | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A quantity that a tender (railroad car behind the engine) holds.
2. The quantity that a tender (ship that functions as a mobile base) holds.

Examples

“With a tenderful of splendid coal, 231 was going up like an engine possessed, exhaust ringing out clear in the frosty air and a great column of sparks shooting to the moonlit sky, while all down the curving line behind us you could see the little fires springing up.”

“His complaint was more than justified, for seldom have I seen such a tenderful of dust and sweepings.”

“In the course of describing several runs he mentioned one in which engine and train were brought to a dead stand at Seaton Junction in the down direction, with ten bogies (that might have been much worse !) a wet southwest wind and a tenderful of foreign coal comprised of 75 per cent slack and fine dust.”

“When an engine gets a tenderful of this stuff, there will be trouble in making steam freely enough to take the train along on time.”

“A dreary year for the Squadron, this 1819, when officers and men fell sick by the shipload and were sent home by the tenderful, when Lemon Valley Hospital was supplemented by the one at High Peak, when Court-Martials were held at the rate of one a fortnight, burials thrice a week, and surveys on foul provisions every other day!”

“The sea tossed and jostled Rose and a tenderful of Willies.”

“A tenderful of frightened and annoyed passengers remained where they were for three hours, prevented from communicating their plight to passing small craft by an impenetrable GrecoAnglo language barrier.”

CEFR level