tenor

Alternative forms

• tenour (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed 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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɛnə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Homophone: tenner

Noun

tenor (plural tenors)

1. (music) Musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.
2. A person, instrument, or group that performs in the tenor (higher than bass and lower than alto) range.
3. (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.
4. The lowest tuned in a ring of bells.
5. Tone, as of a conversation.
   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 145:

     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.

6. (obsolete) duration; continuance; a state of holding on in a continuous course; general tendency; career.
   • Gray

     Along the cool sequestered vale of life / They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

7. (linguistics) The subject in a metaphor to which attributes are ascribed.
8. (finance) Time to maturity of a bond.
9. Stamp; character; nature.
   • Dryden

     This success would look like chance, if it were perpetual, and always of the same tenor.

10. (law) 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.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)

11. That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding.
    • Shakespeare

      When it [the bond] is paid according to the tenor.

    • Spart

      Does not the whole tenor of the divine law positively require humility and meekness to all men?

Adjective

tenor (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the tenor part or range.

   He has a tenor voice.

   • 1962, Frank Howard Richardson, For Parents Only: The Doctor Discusses Discipline

     Many a star athlete has very little hair anywhere except what he wears on top of his head, and a voice that is absolutely tenor.

   • 2009, Richard Smith, Can't You Hear Me Calling: The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass, Da Capo Press →ISBN

     Sometimes Charlie would sing notes that were more tenor than original melody, forcing Bill to sing a high baritone-style line.

   • 2012, Lily George, Captain of Her Heart, Harlequin →ISBN, page 173

     The door swung open, and a masculine voice—a little more tenor than Brookes's bass tones—called, “Brookes, come in. Do you have your colleague with you?”

   • 2015, Michael J. Senger Sr., The Connection, Lulu Press, Inc →ISBN

     Kahn was not a big man and he had a voice that was a little more tenor than most preferred.

See also

• tenor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tenor in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

Anagrams

• Norte, Toner, Trone, noter, toner, torne, trone

Etymology

From Latin tenor, tenōrem.

Noun

tenor m (plural tenors)

1. tone, tendency
2. tenor

Etymology

Latin teneo.

Noun

tenor m

1. tenor (musical range)

Related terms

Further reading

• tenor in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• tenor in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Noun

tenor c (singular definite tenoren, plural indefinite tenorer)

1. tenor (musical range, person, instrument or group performing in the tenor range)

Verb

tenor

1. future infinitive of tenar

Etymology

From teneō (“hold”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈte.nor/, [ˈtɛ.nɔr]

Noun

tenor m (genitive tenōris); third declension

1. a holding on, continuance, course, career, duration
2. a holder

References

• tenor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• tenor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tenor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Etymology

From Italian tenore, via French ténor and German Tenor

Noun

tenor m (definite singular tenoren, indefinite plural tenorer, definite plural tenorene)

1. tenor (singing voice or singer; pitch of a musical instrument)

References

• “tenor” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Italian tenore, via French ténor and German Tenor

Noun

tenor m (definite singular tenoren, indefinite plural tenorar, definite plural tenorane)

1. tenor (as above)

References

• “tenor” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Alternative forms

• tenëor
• tenour (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

From tenir, cf. also Latin tenor.

Noun

tenor m (oblique plural tenors, nominative singular tenors, nominative plural tenor)

1. holder; possessor (one who possesses; one who has)

Noun

tenor f (oblique plural tenors, nominative singular tenor, nominative plural tenors)

1. possession
2. content (of a letter)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (tenor, feminine noun, possession)
• tenure on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tenor, tenōrem, with the sense of "tenor" taken from Italian tenore.

Noun

tenor m (plural tenores)

1. tenor
2. (formal) sense, meaning