Definition of: tenor

(ten′ər) noun
1. A settled course or manner of progress.
2. Course of thought; general purport.
3. Law The purport or substance and effect of a document; an exact transcript, as of a record.
4. General character and tendency; nature.
5. The highest adult male voice (except the falsetto); a singer having such a voice, or a part to be sung by it.
6. An instrument playing the part intermediate between the bass and the alto; especially, the viola.
7. In bell ringing, the lowest bell, irrespective of peal.
—adjective
1. Of or pertaining to a tenor.
2. Having a relation to other instruments that the tenor bears to other musical parts: a tenor violin. [<OF tenour <L tenor a course <tenere hold; in def. 5, so called because this voice originally sang or “held” the melody]