noun

1. a game, usually played outdoors, in which two players or two pairs of players using rackets hit a fabric-covered, hollow rubber ball back and forth over a net stretched across a marked, level, rectangular area (tennis court)
   in full lawn tennis
2. a similar but more complex old indoor game (court tennis) in which the ball is bounced against the walls of a specially constructed court as well as hit over a net

Etymology: ME tenetz, prob. < Anglo-Fr tenetz, receive, hold (imper. for OFr tenez) < OFr tenir, to hold (see tenant): a cry by the server before play