Find the word definition

Crossword clues for tenderfoot

The Collaborative International Dictionary
tenderfoot

Boy scout \Boy scout\ Orig., a member of the ``Boy Scouts,'' an organization of boys founded in 1908, by Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell, to promote good citizenship by creating in them a spirit of civic duty and of usefulness to others, by stimulating their interest in wholesome mental, moral, industrial, and physical activities, etc. Hence, a member of any of the other similar organizations, which are now worldwide. In ``The Boy Scouts of America'' the local councils are generally under a scout commissioner, under whose supervision are scout masters, each in charge of a troop of two or more patrols of eight scouts each, who are of three classes, tenderfoot, second-class scout, and first-class scout.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
tenderfoot

1866, American English, originally of newcomers to ranching or mining districts, from tender (adj.) + foot (n.). The U.S. equivalent of what in Great Britain was generally called a greenhand. As a level in Boy Scouting, it is recorded from 1908.\n\nAmong the Indians, more than half of every sentence is expressed by signs. And miners illustrate their conversation by the various terms used in mining. I have always noticed how clearly these terms conveyed the idea sought. Awkwardness in comprehending this dialect easily reveals that the hearer bears the disgrace of being a "pilgrim," or a "tender-foot," as they style the new emigrant.

["A Year in Montana," "Atlantic Monthly," August 1866]

\nTender-footed (adj.) "cautious", originally of horses, is recorded from 1680s; of persons from 1854.
Wiktionary
tenderfoot

n. 1 An inexperienced person; a novice 2 A newcomer to the region in the old U.S. frontier days. 3 A Boy Scout of the lowest rank.

WordNet
tenderfoot
  1. n. an inexperienced person (especially someone inexperienced in outdoor living)

  2. [also: tenderfeet (pl)]

Wikipedia
Tenderfoot

Tenderfoot or The Tenderfoot may refer to:

  • One of the ranks in the Boy Scouts of America
  • A guest at a guest ranch, also known as a "dude"
  • "Tenderfoot", a song by Adam Young and Tom Morgan
  • The Tenderfoot (play), a 1904 play
  • The Tenderfoot (1917 film), a 1917 American film starring and directed by William Duncan
  • The Tenderfoot (1919 film), a 1919 American comedy film starring and directed by Marcel Perez
  • The Tenderfoot (film), a 1932 film starring Joe E. Brown
  • Alternate title of The Dude Goes West, a 1948 comedy Western film featuring Eddie Albert
  • The Tenderfoot (miniseries), a 1964 television miniseries
  • The Tenderfoot (band), a British band
  • Alternate title of Bushwhacked (film), a 1995 film starring Daniel Stern

Usage examples of "tenderfoot".

Woodbury Common during their Tenderfoot exercise, claimed to have crawled around their bivvy bags and joked that he was now going to be a mercenary in Bosnia.

He covered the twenty yards across our drive in a tenderfooted stumble, Killer gaining with every leap.

As long as the boom continues, and foreigners and tenderfeet pour their money in, the business will look prosperous.

It was usual for any tenderfoot on a cow ranch or a cattle drive to be given a bad horse just as a joke.

Most of the tall tales about grizzlies have been spun around camp fires to impress a tenderfoot or tourist and even more have been poured out of a bottle of rye whisky.

It was a perfect place for a settlement, as I p'inted out, but tenderfoots is powerful pecooliar.

I stayed longer'n I intended to, it was sech a relief to get away from them helpless tenderfoots for a while, and when I rode back into camp, I seen Ned approaching with a stranger—a young white man, which carried hisself with a air of great importance.

I'm not citified like some of these tenderfoots who haul produce from door to door out in the suburbs.