From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tense \Tense\, noun [OF. tens, properly, time, F. temps time, tense. See {Temporal} of time, and cf. {Thing}.] (Gram.) One of the forms which a verb takes by inflection or by adding auxiliary words, so as to indicate the time of the action or event signified; the modification which verbs undergo for the indication of time.
Note: The primary simple tenses are three: those which express time past, present, and future; but these admit of modifications, which differ in different languages.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tense \Tense\, adjective [L. tensus, p. p. of tendere to stretch. See {Tend} to move, and cf. {Toise}.] Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax; as, a tense fiber.
The temples were sunk, her forehead was tense, and a fatal paleness was upon her. --Goldsmith. -- {Tense"ly}, adverb -- {Tense"ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: in or of a state of physical or nervous tension [ant: {relaxed}]
2: pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in 'beat') [ant: {lax}]
3: taut or rigid; stretched tight; "tense piano strings" [ant: {lax}]
noun
1: a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
verb
1: stretch or force to the limit; "strain the rope" [syn: {strain}]
2: increase the tension on; "tense a rope"
3: become tense or tenser; "He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room" [syn: {tense up}] [ant: {relax}]
4: make tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious; [syn: {strain}, {tense up}] [ant: {relax}, {relax}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
276 Moby Thesaurus words for "tense": accented, agitated, all-overish, alveolar, antsy, anxious, anxioused up, aorist, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, apprehensive, articulated, assimilated, back, barytone, bilabial, bothered, brace, broad, cacuminal, central, cerebral, checked, chill, chilly, chronology, close, cold, concerned, consonant, consonantal, continuant, continue, continuity, cool, dental, disaccordant, disquieted, disquieting, dissimilated, distressed, distressing, disturbed, disturbing, dorsal, drag out, dragged out, draw, draw out, drawn, drawn out, duration, durative, duree, edgy, elongate, elongated, extend, extended, fearful, fidgety, firm, flat, fluttery, foreboding, fraught, front, frosty, fussy, future, future perfect, glide, glossal, glottal, guttural, hard, haul, heave, heavy, high, high-strung, historical present, icy, imperfect, in a pucker, in a stew, in suspense, incompatible, inhospitable, inimical, intense, intonated, jittery, jumpy, keyed up, keyed-up, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, lastingness, lateral, lax, lengthen, lengthen out, lengthened, let out, light, lingual, liquid, low, mid, misgiving, monophthongal, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, nerve-racking, nervous, nervy, occlusive, on edge, on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, open, overanxious, overapprehensive, overexert, overextend, overstrain, overtax, overwrought, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, past, past perfect, perfect, period, perturbed, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, pluperfect, point tense, pokerlike, posttonic, present, present perfect, press, preterit, produce, progressive tense, prolong, prolongate, prolongated, prolonged, protract, protracted, psychological time, pull, pulled, queasy, quivering, rack, ramrodlike, reinforce, renitent, restive, restless, retroflex, rigid, rigidify, rodlike, rounded, rusty, screw up, semivowel, shore up, soft, solicitous, sonant, space, space-time, spin out, spun out, starched, starchy, stiff, stiff as buckram, stiffen, stopped, straggling, strain, strain every nerve, strained, strengthen, stress, stressed, stressful, stretch, stretch out, stretched, stretched out, stretched tight, string out, strong, strung out, surd, suspenseful, sweat blood, syllabic, taut, tauten, tax, tension, term, the future, the past, the present, thick, throaty, tide, tight, tighten, time, timebinding, tonal, tonic, trice up, troubled, tug, twangy, unaccented, unamiable, unamicable, uncordial, under a strain, uneasy, unfriendly, ungenial, unharmonious, unquiet, unrelaxed, unrestful, unrounded, unsettled, unsociable, unstressed, upset, uptight, velar, virgate, vocalic, vocoid, voiced, voiceless, vowel, vowellike, weak, while, wide, with bated breath, with muscles tense, worked up, worried, worrisome, worrying, wound up, wrought up, zealous
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
tense adjective Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med, but sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU: "This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes." A tense programmer is one who produces tense code.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
tense Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med, but sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU: "This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes." A tense programmer is one who produces tense code. [{Jargon File}]
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