rare–1. [ad. L. tenēnt-em holding, pr. pple. of tenēre to hold.] Holding.
1861. T. West, in Trans. Linn. Soc. (1862), XXIII. 408. That these [hair-like appendages] are the immediate agents in holding is now admitted by almost all; it will be convenient to term them ‘tenent hairs,’ in allusion to their office.
