Across these texts, the word “tend” variously expresses the act of caring for or watching over someone or something (e.g., tending a garden [1] or tending cows [2]) and a broader sense of inclination or direction, as in how events or observations “tend” toward a certain principle or goal (e.g., tending to felicity [3]). William Shakespeare often employs “tend” to mean “attend to” or “care for,” as when asking “Who didst thou leave to tend his Majesty?” [4]. Meanwhile, other works use “tend” to describe developmental or ideological trajectories, such as when Rousseau writes that art may “constantly tend to the perfection of the instrument which nature has given us” [5]. Across all these instances, “tend” underscores both attentive service and a leaning—whether of ideas or actions—toward an outcome.