[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]