Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tennis \Ten"nis\, n. [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.

   {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.

Tennis \Ten"nis\, v. t.
   To drive backward and forward, as a ball in playing tennis.
   [R.] --Spenser.

Source : WordNet®

tennis
     n : a game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a
         ball back and forth over a net that divides the court
         [syn: {lawn tennis}]