Definition of Tenor

1. Noun. The adult male singing voice above baritone.

Exact synonyms: Tenor Voice
Generic synonyms: Singing Voice

2. Adjective. (of a musical instrument) intermediate between alto and baritone or bass. "A tenor sax"
Category relationships: Music
Similar to: High, High-pitched

3. Noun. The pitch range of the highest male voice.
Generic synonyms: Pitch

4. Adjective. Of or close in range to the highest natural adult male voice. "Tenor voice"
Similar to: High, High-pitched

5. Noun. An adult male with a tenor voice.

6. Noun. A settled or prevailing or habitual course of a person's life. "Nothing disturbed the even tenor of her ways"
Generic synonyms: Direction

7. Noun. The general meaning or substance of an utterance. "Although I disagreed with him I could follow the tenor of his argument"
Exact synonyms: Strain
Generic synonyms: Meaning, Substance
Specialized synonyms: Drift, Purport

Definition of Tenor

1. n. A state of holding on in a continuous course; manner of continuity; constant mode; general tendency; course; career.

Definition of Tenor

1. Noun. (archaic music) Musical part or section that '''holds''' or performs the main melody, as opposed to the ''contratenor bassus'' and ''contratenor altus'', who perform countermelodies. ¹

2. Noun. (music) Musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto. ¹

3. Noun. A person, instrument(,) or group that performs in the tenor (gloss higher than bass and lower than alto) range. ¹

4. Noun. Tone, as of a conversation. ¹

5. Noun. (linguistics) The subject in a metaphor to which attributes are ascribed. ¹

6. Adjective. of or pertaining to the tenor part or range ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Tenor

1. a high male singing voice [n -S]

Medical Definition of Tenor

1. 1. A state of holding on in a continuous course; manner of continuity; constant mode; general tendency; course; career. "Along the cool sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their away." (Gray) 2. That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding. "When it [the bond] is paid according to the tenor." (Shak) "Does not the whole tenor of the divine law positively require humility and meekness to all men?" (Spart) 3. Stamp; character; nature. "This success would look like chance, if it were perpetual, and always of the same tenor." (Dryden) 4. 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. 5. [F. Tenor, L. Tenor, properly, a holding; so called because the tenor was the voice which took and held the principal part, the plain song, air, or tune, to which the other voices supplied a harmony above and below: cf. It. Tenore. The higher of the two kinds of voices usually belonging to adult males; hence, the part in the harmony adapted to this voice; the second of the four parts in the scale of sounds, reckoning from the base, and originally the air, to which the other parts were auxillary. A person who sings the tenor, or the instrument that play it. Old Tenor, new Tenor, Middle Tenor, different descriptions of paper money, issued at different periods, by the American colonial governments in the last century. Origin: L, from tenere to hold; hence, properly, a holding on in a continued course: cf. F. Teneur. See Tenable, and cf. Tenor a kind of voice. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Tenor

tenontodynia
tenontography
tenontolemmitis
tenontology
tenontomyoplasty
tenontomyotomy
tenontoplastic
tenontoplasty
tenontosaur
tenontosaurs
tenontothecitis
tenophony
tenophyte
tenoplastic
tenoplasty
tenor (current term)
tenor clef
tenor clefs
tenor drum
tenor saxophonist
tenor voice
tenoreceptor
tenorial
tenorist
tenorists
tenorite
tenorites
tenoroon
tenoroons
tenorrhaphy

Literary usage of Tenor

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Gentleman's Magazine (1829)
"Some of the heaviest Bells now rung St. Mary le Bow, London, peal often ; a peal of ten ; tenor 7558 tenor 5300 York Minster, peal of ten; tenor . ..."

2. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians by George Grove (1910)
"less known but very artistic and numerous ones of Rolla, by the aid of which any competent violinist will soon become master of the tenor. ..."

3. Pronouncing and Defining Dictionary of Music by William Smythe Babcock Mathews, Emil Liebling (1896)
"tenor. That species of male voice next above the baritone, and extending from ... tenor C. The lowest С iu the tenor voice; the lowest string of the viola, ..."

4. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society by American Antiquarian Society (1885)
"that the tax might be paid in bills of the new tenor at their face value, or in bills of the old . tenor in the proportion of three to one. ..."

5. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society by American Antiquarian Society (1885)
"that the tax might be paid in bills of the new tenor at their face value, or in bills of the old tenor in the proportion of three to one. ..."

6. Israel in Egypt: Sacred Oratorio by George Frideric Handel, Georg Friedrich Händel, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Horace Wadham Nicholl (1900)
"Soprano I. Alto I. tenor I, Bass I. Soprano II. Alto II. tenor II. Bass II. PIANO. < Israel in Egypt. PART i. Exodus. N9. RECIT— "Now there arose. ..."

7. The Victor Book of the Opera by Henry William Simon (1915)
"Soprano; Carlo Ottoboni, Bass: Remo Sangiorgi, tenor ; and Giuseppi Sala, tenor Tu ... tenor; I Cesare Preve, Bass : and Chorus (In Italian) i 165 71 Si ..."

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