An archaic or obsolete form meaning to contest, dispute, or contend against; to argue or struggle with.
From Latin contendere (con- 'together' + tendere 'to stretch'), which evolved into Old French contendre and Middle English contecten, eventually becoming the modern 'contend'; this form is now archaic.
Old English had forms like 'contect' that gradually shortened to 'contend'—it's like watching language lose weight over centuries, with letters disappearing until the word becomes faster to say.
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