Tendering Your Resignation

Tendering your resignation is a common English phrase, but I can’t think of anything else that we ‘tender’ besides a resignation.

  1. Are there other things we tender besides a resignation?

  2. Where did the usage of ‘tender’ for this specific phrasing come from?

Tender (the verb) just means to “present something for acceptance”, but it’s one of those words that only survives in a few expressions. Nobody really uses it generally any more.

But another common expression in which it is used is a tender offer (which itself is rather redundant.)

ETA: And of course there is the related noun which is printed on all our money: tender is anything presented to satisfy a debt.

In my family we often tender payment. But then again, these are folks who use “albeit” in normal conversation.

bids on jobs

offers on property

I beat my meat to make my steaks tender.

You can tender a proposal.
You can tender an offer, after offers have been requested.
You can tender a plea arrangement.
You can even tender a date: http://www.apptism.com/social-networking/mark-fedin/tender-meet-chat-flirt-date-love-tinder/
But you can’t beat a tenderloin.

Tender is in regular use in British English in relation to public procurement - a government agency announces a contract that it wishes to enter into; interested parties submit tenders; the agency chooses the most attractive tender and a contract is formed with the successful tenderer.

You tender payment of a debt. If you’re sued on a debt, it’s generally a defence to show that you tendered payment and it was declined. It’s in this context that it matters whether banknotes are “legal tender” or not.

This is what I was going to add. Very much common usage in Australia, not just government departments, but companies also will seek tenders for specific contracts or services. Being in the banking industry, I often see large businesses seeking tenders for their banking requirements.

You can tender an offer, even if it hasn’t been requested.