TENNIS

tennis, lawn tennis

(noun) a game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

tennis (usually uncountable, plural tennises)

(sports) A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.

(dated) A match in this sport.

(obsolete) An earlier game in which a ball is driven to and fro, or kept in motion by striking it with a racquet or with the open hand.

Verb

tennis (third-person singular simple present tennises, present participle tennising, simple past and past participle tennised)

(intransitive, dated) To play tennis.

(transitive) To drive backward and forward like a tennis ball.

Anagrams

• innest, nestin, sennit, sinnet, tensin

Source: Wiktionary

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Ten"nis, n. Etym: [OE. tennes, tenies, tenyse; of uncertain origin, perhaps fr. F. tenez hold or take it, fr. tenir to hold (see Tenable).]

Definition: A play in which a ball is driven to and fro, or kept in motion by striking it with a racket or with the open hand. Shak. His easy bow, his good stories, his style of dancing and playing tennis, . . . were familiar to all London. Macaulay. Court tennis, the old game of tennis as played within walled courts of peculiar construction; -- distinguished from lawn tennis.

– Lawn tennis. See under Lawn, n.

– Tennis court, a place or court for playing the game of tennis. Shak.

Ten"nis, v. t.

Definition: To drive backward and forward, as a ball in playing tennis. [R.] Spenser.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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