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tendency; course; career. Along the cool sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their away. Gray.

Suture of a tendon.

Counter tenor; contralto.

One of the middle parts in music, between the tenor and the treble; high tenor. Counter-tenor clef (Mus.), the C clef when placed on the third line; -- also called alto clef.

Formerly the part sung by the highest male, or counter-tenor, voices; now the part sung by the lowest female, or contralto, voices, between in tenor and soprano. In instrumental music it now signifies the tenor.

A male voice, the compass of which partakes of the common bass and the tenor, but which does not descend as low as the one, nor rise as high as the other.

A tenor or small bass viol.

The tenor viola, or viola.

The highest vocal part; the air or melody in choral music; anciently the tenor, now the soprano. Canto fermo ( Etym: [It.] (Mus.), the plain ecclesiastical chant in cathedral service; the plain song.

To indicate, as by a symptom, some method of treatment contrary to that which the general tenor of the case would seem to require. Contraindicating symptoms must be observed. Harvey.

The part sung by the highest male or lowest female voices; the alto or counter tenor.

A tenor clarinet; -- called also basset horn, and sometimes confounded with the English horn, which is a tenor oboe.

part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to counter tenor.

Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song.

To set free. [Obs.] "The enfreed Antenor." Shak.

rtificial voice; that voice in a man which lies above his natural voice; the male counter tenor or alto voice. See Head voice, under Voice.

Gallant persons, collectively. [R.] Helenus, Antenor, and all the gallantry of Troy. Shak.

Of the same tenor or tone; equable; without variation.

given situation or condition; to maintain unchanged; to hold or preserve in any state or tenor. His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal. Milton. Keep a stiff rein, and move but gently on. Addison.

A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between the soprano and base; a middle part. [Obs.] The mean is drowned with your unruly base. Shak.