tenor, tenour, tenoure

& a. [French teneur the tenor part in music, tenor, substance, from Lat. tenorem, acc us. of tenor a holding on, tenor, sense; teneo =to hold: Sp. tenor; Ital. tenore.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Continued run or course; general or prevailing direction; mode of continuance. "So shall my days in one sad tenor run." Pope: Homer's Iliad , vi. 520. 2. The course or line of thought which runs or holds through the whole of a discourse; general course, direction, or drift of thought; general spirit, meaning, or tendency; purport, substance. "The whole tenor of the gospels and epistles shows, that human virtues are all light in the balance."- Water