tenour

English

Noun

tenour (plural tenours)

1. Archaic spelling of tenor.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 5th edition, page 48:

     Our political ſyſtem is placed in a juſt correſpondence and ſymmetry with the order of the world, and with the mode of exiſtence decreed to a permanent body compoſed of tranſitory parts; wherein, by the diſpoſition of a ſtupendous wiſdom, moulding together the great myſterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never old, or middle-aged, or young, but in a condition of unchangeable conſtancy, moves on through the varied tenour of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progreſſion.

   • 1790, Adam Smith, “Of the Beauty which the Appearance of Utility Bestows upon the Charactes and Actions of Men; […]”, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments; […] In Two Volumes, 6th edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell […]; Edinburgh: W[illiam] Creech, and J. Bell & Co., →OCLC, part IV, page 481:

     It is the conſciouſneſs of this merited approbation and eſteem which is alone capable of ſupporting the agent in this tenour of conduct.

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 181:

     Mr. Gooch was so far moved from the even tenour, to buy—first a pocket-book, containing a small view of Rotheles Castle, at the top of a neatly-ruled page for memoranda; and, secondly, a number of a work, illustrating the principal gentlemen's seats in England, and containing a large view of the said castle.

Anagrams

• neutro-

Middle English

Alternative forms

• tenor, tenoure, tenure, tenur, tenowr, teneur, teneure

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Latin tenor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛˈnuːr/, /tɛˈniu̯r/, /ˈtɛnur/

Noun

tenour (plural tenours)

1. The (primary) intended message or purpose of something
2. The tone or character of something; the tenor of something; the usual mode of life.
3. The relevant and purposeful content of a directive.
4. An abstract; a summation of a document or directive.
5. (music) The primary musical section (tending to be the tenor)
6. (rare) Constancy or permanence of effect or direction.
7. (music, rare) A pitch as a basis for finding out pitch difference.
8. (music, rare) Something's vocal or musical characteristics.

Descendants

• English: tenor
• Scots: tenor

References

• “tenǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-07.

Old French

Noun

tenour oblique singular, m (oblique plural tenours, nominative singular tenours, nominative plural tenour)

1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of tenor (possessor)

Noun

tenour oblique singular, f (oblique plural tenours, nominative singular tenour, nominative plural tenours)

1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of teneure (tenure)