From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Attend \At*tend"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Attended}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Attending}.] [OE. atenden, OF. atendre, F. attendre, to expect, to wait, fr. L. attendre to stretch, (sc. animum), to apply the mind to; ad + tendere to stretch. See {Tend}.]
1. To direct the attention to; to fix the mind upon; to give heed to; to regard. [Obs.]
The diligent pilot in a dangerous tempest doth not attend the unskillful words of the passenger. --Sir P. Sidney.
2. To care for; to look after; to take charge of; to watch over.
3. To go or stay with, as a companion, nurse, or servant; to visit professionally, as a physician; to accompany or follow in order to do service; to escort; to wait on; to serve.
The fifth had charge sick persons to attend. --Spenser.
Attends the emperor in his royal court. --Shak.
With a sore heart and a gloomy brow, he prepared to attend William thither. --Macaulay.
4. To be present with; to accompany; to be united or consequent to; as, a measure attended with ill effects.
What cares must then attend the toiling swain. --Dryden.
5. To be present at; as, to attend church, school, a concert, a business meeting.
6. To wait for; to await; to remain, abide, or be in store for. [Obs.]
The state that attends all men after this. --Locke.
Three days I promised to attend my doom. --Dryden.
Syn: To {Attend}, {Mind}, {Regard}, {Heed}, {Notice}.
Usage: Attend is generic, the rest are specific terms. To mind is to attend so that it may not be forgotten; to regard is to look on a thing as of importance; to heed is to attend to a thing from a principle of caution; to notice is to think on that which strikes the senses. --Crabb. See {Accompany}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: being present at meeting or event [syn: {in attendance(p)}]
2: serving attendance on someone; "a ministering angel"; "the angels ministrant sang"; "the attending physician" [syn: {ministering}, {ministrant}]
noun
1: the process whereby a person concentrates on some features of the environment to the (relative) exclusion of others [syn: {attention}] [ant: {inattention}]
2: the act of being present (at a meeting or event etc.) [syn: {attendance}] [ant: {nonattendance}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
30 Moby Thesaurus words for "attending": accessory, accompanying, ancillary, associated, attendant, coincident, collateral, combined, concomitant, concurrent, conjoint, correlative, coupled, fellow, helping, incident, joined, joint, menial, ministering, mutual, paired, parallel, satellite, servile, serving, servitorial, simultaneous, twin, waiting
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