Meaning

noun a portable shelter (usually of canvas stretched over supporting poles and fastened to the ground with ropes and pegs)

noun a web that resembles a tent or carpet

verb live in or as if in a tent

originFrom Middle English tente, borrowed from Old French tente, from Vulgar Latin *tenta (“tent”), from the feminine of Latin tentus, ptp. of tendere (“to stretch, extend”), or contracted from *tendita as an alternate past participle. Displaced native Middle English tild, tilt (“tent, tilt”), from Old English teld (“tent”). Compare Spanish tienda (“store, shop; tent”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0