tenor
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɛnə(ɹ)/
homophone: tenner
Forms: form: tenors
form: tenour
Etymology: From Middle English tenour, from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Old French tenor (“substance, contents, meaning, sense; tenor part in music”), from Latin tenor (“course, continuance; holder”), from teneō (“I hold”). In music, from the notion of the one who holds the melody, as opposed to the countertenor.
Senses: topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.
glosses: A person, instrument, or group that performs in the tenor (higher than bass and lower than alto) range.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A musical part or section that holds or performs the main melody, as opposed to the contratenor bassus and contratenor altus, who perform countermelodies.
glosses: The lowest tuned in a ring of bells.
examples: text: Colonel Walton, who had striven to check the conversation at moments when he became conscious of its tenor, now gladly engaged his guest on other and more legitimate topics.
ref: 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 145:
glosses: Tone, as of a conversation.
examples: text: It is the conſciouſneſs of this merited approbation and eſteem which is alone capable of ſupporting the agent in this tenour of conduct.
ref: 1790, Adam Smith, “Of the Beauty which the Appearance of Utility Bestows upon the Charactes and Actions of Men; […]”, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments; […] In Two Volumes, 6th edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell […]; Edinburgh: W[illiam] Creech, and J. Bell & Co., →OCLC, part IV, page 481:
text: Along the cool sequestered vale of life / They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
ref: 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:
glosses: duration; continuance; a state of holding on in a continuous course; general tendency; career.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: The subject in a metaphor to which attributes are ascribed.
topics: business
finance
glosses: Time to maturity of a bond.
examples: text: This success would look like chance, if it were perpetual, and always of the same tenor.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Stamp; character; nature.
examples: text: Than he shall delyuer to vs a tenour of that he ought to do.
ref: 1523, Lord Berners, The Chronicle of Froissart:
topics: law
glosses: An exact copy of a writing, set forth in the words and figures of it. It differs from purport, which is only the substance or general import of the instrument.
examples: text: When it [the bond] is paid according to the tenor.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: He would have learned , by the whole tenor of the divine law , and especially by the example of the absent Lord , whose property he was for a season trusted with , that he was to do as much good to humanity , and win as much glory to God, as was compatible with the measure of his trust, and for the time for which he might retain it.
ref: 1832, Caroline Wilson, The Listener:
text: The general tenor of the report on No. 35020 is that all the improvements in performance aimed at in the rebuilding of these engines have been achieved.
ref: 1960 March, “Testing a rebuilt "Merchant Navy" Pacific of the S.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 169:
glosses: That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A tenor saxophone.
Coordinate terms: sense: voice types
word: soprano
sense: voice types
word: mezzo-soprano
sense: voice types
english: decreasing in pitch
translation: decreasing in pitch
word: contralto
sense: voice types
word: countertenor
sense: voice types
word: baritone
sense: voice types
english: decreasing in pitch
translation: decreasing in pitch
word: bass
Derived terms: counter-tenor
Old Tenor
Middle Tenor
New Tenor
SATB
tenor banjo
tenor clef
tenor drum
tenor guitar
tenor horn
tenorial
tenorist
tenor of the times
tenor recorder
tenor sax
tenor saxophone
tenor trombone
tenor viol