tennis

Etymology

From Middle English tennys, teneys, tenis, from Old French tenez, second-person plural imperative of tenir (“to hold”).

noun

1. (sports) A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
   “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.” 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court
2. (dated) A match in this sport.
   We go about to parties in the daytime as usual, teas and tennises[…] 1918, Violet Hunt, The Last Ditch, page 95
3. (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

1. (intransitive, dated) To play tennis.
2. (transitive) To drive backward and forward like a tennis ball.