Definition of tenor

• n. - A state of holding on in a continuous course; manner of continuity; constant mode; general tendency; course; career.
• n. - That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding.
• n. - Stamp; character; nature.
• n. - 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.
• n. - 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.
• n. - A person who sings the tenor, or the instrument that play it.