Bartended

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To serve alcoholic beverages and drinks at a bar or event
2. To manage the preparation and dispensing of drinks in a social setting
3. To engage in the profession of mixing and serving cocktails and other refreshments to patrons

Etymology: "Bartended" is the past tense and past participle of "bartend," which English speakers formed by working backward from "bartender." The noun came first: a bartender is one who tends the bar, and "tend" here carries its older sense of looking after or attending to something. The verb was then created by stripping off the "-er" ending, a process linguists call back-formation. The pattern is common in English. Words such as "babysit" (from "babysitter") and "edit" (from "editor") followed the same route, with speakers treating the agent noun as if it were a verb plus suffix. So the verb did not exist first and gave rise to the noun; the reverse is true, and "bartended" simply inherits that reversed history.

Synonyms: served drinks, tended bar