Obs. [a. F. tent-er = Sp. tentar, It. tentare:—L. temptāre to TEMPT, in med.L. (after Romanic langs.) tentāre.] A variant of TEMPT, occasional down to 16th c. Hence † Tenting vbl. sb.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 228. Nu an oðer elne ouh muchel urouren ou, hwon ȝe beoð itented…. God … is treowe: nul he neuer þolien þet te deouel tempti us ouer þet he isihð wel þet we muwen iðolien. Ibid., 230. Ure Louerd, hwon he iðoleð þet we beoð itented, he plaieð mid us.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxviii. 243. Euelle spiritis is neghand full nere, That will ȝou tarie at þis tyme with his tentyng.
a. 1555. Bp. Gardiner, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 738. I know your Grace only tenteth me with such reasones.
