[Fr. tenue deportment, sb. use of fem. pa. pple. of tenir to hold, keep; = Pr. tenguda, Sp., It. tenuta.] Carriage, bearing, deportment; also, costume, ‘rig.’
1881. H. James, Portr. Lady, xi. ‘Should you like me better if I were your butler, dear?’ her husband asked.
‘I don’t think I should: you would n’t at all have the tenue.’
1892 Q. Rev., April, 360. To the end that he might appear in proper tenue at any place of fashionable resort. Ibid. (1901), April, 325. The Queen had an extreme respect for tenue in all its forms.
