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'enor, 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
see also:
tenable tenor old tenor new tenor middle tenor