Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word tennis. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word tennis, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say tennis in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word tennis you have here. The definition of the word tennis will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition oftennis, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
(sports) A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke[…]whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”
We go about to parties in the daytime as usual, teas and tennises[…]
(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 openhand.
1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
(transitive) To drive backward and forward like a tennis ball.
1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande, Dublin: Societie of Stationers,, →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: Society of Stationers, Hibernia Press, y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
they shall have Intelligence or Espial upon the Enemy, will so drive him from one side to another, and tennis him amongst them
“tennis”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
Further reading
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “tennis”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies