tenor

Definitions

• (music) A musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.
• A person, instrument or group that performs in the tenor higher than bass and lower than alto range.
• (archaic) A musical part or section that holds or performs the main melody, as opposed to the contratenor bassus and contratenor altus, who perform countermelodies.
• The lowest tuned in a ring of bells.
• Tone, as of a conversation.
• (obsolete) duration; continuance; a state of holding on in a continuous course; general tendency; career.
• (linguistics) The subject in a metaphor to which attributes are ascribed.
• (finance) Time to maturity of a bond.
• Stamp; character; nature.
• (legal) 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.
• That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding.
• (colloquial) A tenor saxophone.