tennis Meaning, Definition & Usage

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
lawn tennis.

OE. tennes, tenies, tenyse; of uncertain origin, perhaps fr. F. tenez hold or take it, fr. tenir to hold (see Tenable).

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.