tenor

Noun · Adjective
Synonyms: tenor voicestrain

WordNet 3.0

Noun (5)

  1. the adult male singing voice above baritoneSynonyms: 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”Synonyms: strain

Adjective (2)

  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”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]

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

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