[LAWN sb.2] A modification of the game of tennis, played in the open air on a lawn, or other prepared ground.
1874. Army & Navy Gaz., XV. 154. A new game has just been patented by Major Wingfield … ‘Lawn Tennis’—for that is the name … is a clever adaptation of Tennis to the exigencies of an ordinary lawn.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, I. vi. 190. And now came the brief bright season of rustic entertainments … lawn-tennis—archery—water parties.
attrib. 1884. H. C. Bunner, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 297/2. There are … lawn-tennis clubs.
