tenorize

Verb

tenorize (third-person singular simple present tenorizes, present participle tenorizing, simple past and past participle tenorized)

1. (intransitive) To sing tenor.
   • Mr. Alfred O'Shea, a tenorizing youth from Australia, sang several times at Queen's Hall, and may congratulate himself on being one of the 'catches' of the season. He sang airs from Italian and French operas, and also a number of Irish ditties—naturally, with a name like that and such an...1922 August 1, “London Concerts”, in The Musical Times
   • A "Study In Blue" unfolded in three parts, starting with the ROXY Jazzmanians doing a swinging "Birth of the Blues" and William Robyn tenorized under "Blue Skies" to be followed by the popular "Rhapsody In Blue" […]1969 April, “Hempstead ROXY Opens”, in Marquee
2. (transitive) To sing (something) in a tenor register.
   • He has that rich, thrillingly masculine voice of which we can hardly ever tire. He has to tenorise (let the impossible word pass) his top notes a trifle, but his art is so good that one hardly notices this after the first occasion.1929 February, British Musician and Musical News
   • Allan Prior, with pipes functioning on all six, tenorized a conglomeration of semi-classical and show bits.1929 February 2, Elias E. Sugarman, “The Palace, New York”, in Billboard
3. (transitive) To convert a piece for tenor.
   • A curious experiment was tried with the music of Don Giovanni in order to enable Nourrit to sing in that beautiful opera. The music allotted to the Don was all tenorized; but this scheme was not happy in its results . It is very doubtful whether any music can safely be transposed from the key in...1892, William Pitt Burne, Gossip of the Century, volume 2, page 33
   • probably intended as a sequel to the tenorized, masculinized version of »Misera! dove son«2000, Mozart-Jahrbuch
4. (transitive) To use (a voice, performer) as a tenor.
   • Mr. Fanning should not be so angry about being "tenorized," for he has such an extended upper range that he might conceivably deceive a public who did not know him.1918 September 26, Musical Courier
   • The great chazzanim, with the exception of very few, were tenors; or, if baritones, they "tenorized" their voices.1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 192