Search Result for "tenor": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (5)

1. the adult male singing voice above baritone;
[syn: tenor, tenor voice]

2. the pitch range of the highest male voice;

3. an adult male with a tenor voice;

4. a settled or prevailing or habitual course of a person's life;
- Example: "nothing disturbed the even tenor of her ways"

5. the general meaning or substance of an utterance;
- Example: "although I disagreed with him I could follow the tenor of his argument"
[syn: tenor, strain]


ADJECTIVE (2)

1. (of a musical instrument) intermediate between alto and baritone or bass;
- Example: "a tenor sax"

2. of or close in range to the highest natural adult male voice;
- Example: "tenor voice"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tenor \Ten"or\, n. [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.] 1. A state of holding on in a continuous course; manner of continuity; constant mode; general tendency; course; career. [1913 Webster] Along the cool sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their away. --Gray. [1913 Webster] 2. That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding. [1913 Webster] When it [the bond] is paid according to the tenor. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Does not the whole tenor of the divine law positively require humility and meekness to all men? --Spart. [1913 Webster] 3. Stamp; character; nature. [1913 Webster] This success would look like chance, if it were perpetual, and always of the same tenor. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 4. (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. --Bouvier. [1913 Webster] 5. [F. t['e]nor, 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.] (Mus.) (a) 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. (b) A person who sings the tenor, or the instrument that play it. [1913 Webster] Old Tenor, New Tenor, Middle Tenor, different descriptions of paper money, issued at different periods, by the American colonial governments in the last century. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

high-pitched \high-pitched\ adj. 1. high in pitch or frequency; -- used of sounds and voices. Opposite of low. [Narrower terms: adenoidal, pinched, nasal; altissimo; alto; countertenor, alto; falsetto; peaky, spiky; piping; shrill, sharp; screaky, screechy, squeaking, squeaky, squealing; soprano, treble; sopranino; tenor] Syn: high. [WordNet 1.5] 2. set at a sharp or high angle or slant; as, a high-pitched roof. Syn: steeply pitched, steep. [WordNet 1.5] high-power
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

tenor adj 1: (of a musical instrument) intermediate between alto and baritone or bass; "a tenor sax" 2: of or close in range to the highest natural adult male voice; "tenor voice" n 1: the adult male singing voice above baritone [syn: tenor, tenor voice] 2: the pitch range of the highest male voice 3: an adult male with a tenor voice 4: a settled or prevailing or habitual course of a person's life; "nothing disturbed the even tenor of her ways" 5: the general meaning or substance of an utterance; "although I disagreed with him I could follow the tenor of his argument" [syn: tenor, strain]