10 results for: Tenement

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ten·e·ment

Audio Help [ten-uh-muh

–noun

1.	Also called tenement house. a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, esp. in a poor section of a large city.

Law.

a.	any species of permanent property, as lands, houses, rents, an office, or a franchise, that may be held of another.

b.	tenements, freehold interests in things immovable considered as subjects of property.

3.	British. an apartment or room rented by a tenant.

4.	Archaic. any abode or habitation.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME < ML tenémentum, equiv. to L tené(re) to hold + -mentum -ment

]

—Related forms

ten·e·men·tal

Audio Help [ten-uh-men-tl] Pronunciation Key, ten·e·men·ta·ry

Audio Help [ten-uh-men-tuh-ree] Pronunciation Key, adjective

ten·e·ment·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Tenement

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ten·e·ment Audio Help (těn'ə-mənt) Pronunciation Key
n.

A building for human habitation, especially one that is rented to tenants.
A rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards.
Chiefly British An apartment or room leased to a tenant.
Law Property, such as land, rents, or franchises, held by one person leasing it from another.

[Middle English, house, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tenēmentum, from Latin tenēre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

ten'e·men'tal (-měn'tl) adj.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
tenement

c.1303, "holding of immovable property" (such as land or buildings,) from Anglo-Fr. (1292) and O.Fr. tenement (12c.), from M.L. tenementum "a holding, fief" (1081), from L. tenere "to hold" (see tenet). The meaning "dwelling place, residence" is attested from c.1425; tenement house "house broken up into apartments, usually in a poor section of a city" is first recorded 1858, Amer.Eng., from tenament in an earlier sense (esp. in Scotland) "large house constructed to be let to a number of tenants" (1693).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

tenement
noun
a run-down apartment house barely meeting minimal standards

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: ten·e·ment
Pronunciation: 'te-n&-m&nt
Function: noun
Etymology: Anglo-French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tenementum, from Latin tenEre to hold
1 a : any of various forms of property (as land) that is held by one person from another b : an estate in property
2 : DWELLING

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

tenement

Dom"i*nant\, a. [L. dominans, -antis, p. pr. of dominari: cf. F. dominant. See Dominate.] Ruling; governing; prevailing; controlling; predominant; as, the dominant party, church, spirit, power.

The member of a dominant race is, in his dealings with the subject race, seldom indeed fraudulent, . . . but imperious, insolent, and cruel. --Macaulay.

Dominant estate or tenement (Law), the estate to which a servitude or easement is due from another estate, the estate over which the servitude extends being called the servient estate or tenement. --Bouvier. --Wharton's Law Dict.

Dominant owner (Law), one who owns lands on which there is an easement owned by another.

Syn: Governing; ruling; controlling; prevailing; predominant; ascendant.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Tenement

House\, n.; pl. Houses. [OE. hous, hus, AS. h?s; akin to OS. & OFries. h?s, D. huis, OHG. h?s, G. haus, Icel. h?s, Sw. hus, Dan. huus, Goth. gudh?s, house of God, temple; and prob. to E. hide to conceal. See Hide, and cf. Hoard, Husband, Hussy, Husting.]

1. A structure intended or used as a habitation or shelter for animals of any kind; but especially, a building or edifice for the habitation of man; a dwelling place, a mansion.

Houses are built to live in; not to look on. --Bacon.

Bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench Are from their hives and houses driven away. --Shak.

2. Household affairs; domestic concerns; particularly in the phrase to keep house. See below.

3. Those who dwell in the same house; a household.

One that feared God with all his house. --Acts x. 2.

4. A family of ancestors, descendants, and kindred; a race of persons from the same stock; a tribe; especially, a noble family or an illustrious race; as, the house of Austria; the house of Hanover; the house of Israel.

The last remaining pillar of their house, The one transmitter of their ancient name. --Tennyson.

5. One of the estates of a kingdom or other government assembled in parliament or legislature; a body of men united in a legislative capacity; as, the House of Lords; the House of Commons; the House of Representatives; also, a quorum of such a body. See Congress, and Parliament.

6. (Com.) A firm, or commercial establishment.

7. A public house; an inn; a hotel.

8. (Astrol.) A twelfth part of the heavens, as divided by six circles intersecting at the north and south points of the horizon, used by astrologers in noting the positions of the heavenly bodies, and casting horoscopes or nativities. The houses were regarded as fixed in respect to the horizon, and numbered from the one at the eastern horizon, called the ascendant, first house, or house of life, downward, or in the direction of the earth's revolution, the stars and planets passing through them in the reverse order every twenty-four hours.

9. A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece.

10. An audience; an assembly of hearers, as at a lecture, a theater, etc.; as, a thin or a full house.

11. The body, as the habitation of the soul.

This mortal house I'll ruin, Do C[ae]sar what he can. --Shak.

12.

Usage: [With an adj., as narrow, dark, etc.] The grave. "The narrow house." --Bryant.

Note: House is much used adjectively and as the first element of compounds. The sense is usually obvious; as, house cricket, housemaid, house painter, housework.

House ant (Zo["o]l.), a very small, yellowish brown ant (Myrmica molesta), which often infests houses, and sometimes becomes a great pest.

House of bishops (Prot. Epis. Ch.), one of the two bodies composing a general convertion, the other being House of Clerical and Lay Deputies.

House boat, a covered boat used as a dwelling.

House of call, a place, usually a public house, where journeymen connected with a particular trade assemble when out of work, ready for the call of employers. [Eng.] --Simonds.

House car (Railroad), a freight car with inclosing sides and a roof; a box car.

House of correction. See Correction.

House cricket (Zo["o]l.), a European cricket (Gryllus domesticus), which frequently lives in houses, between the bricks of chimneys and fireplaces. It is noted for the loud chirping or stridulation of the males.

House dog, a dog kept in or about a dwelling house.

House finch (Zo["o]l.), the burion.

House flag, a flag denoting the commercial house to which a merchant vessel belongs.

House fly (Zo["o]l.), a common fly (esp. Musca domestica), which infests houses both in Europe and America. Its larva is a maggot which lives in decaying substances or excrement, about sink drains, etc.

House of God, a temple or church.

House of ill fame. See Ill fame under Ill, a.

House martin (Zo["o]l.), a common European swallow (Hirundo urbica). It has feathered feet, and builds its nests of mud against the walls of buildings. Called also house swallow, and window martin.

House mouse (Zo["o]l.), the common mouse (Mus musculus).

House physician, the resident medical adviser of a hospital or other public institution.

House snake (Zo["o]l.), the milk snake.

House sparrow (Zo["o]l.), the common European sparrow (Passer domesticus). It has recently been introduced into America, where it has become very abundant, esp. in cities. Called also thatch sparrow.

House spider (Zo["o]l.), any spider which habitually lives in houses. Among the most common species are Theridium tepidariorum and Tegenaria domestica.

House surgeon, the resident surgeon of a hospital.

House wren (Zo["o]l.), the common wren of the Eastern United States (Troglodytes a["e]don). It is common about houses and in gardens, and is noted for its vivacity, and loud musical notes. See Wren.

Religious house, a monastery or convent.

The White House, the official residence of the President of the United States; -- hence, colloquially, the office of President.

To bring down the house. See under Bring.

To keep house, to maintain an independent domestic establishment.

To keep open house, to entertain friends at all times.

Syn: Dwelling; residence; abode. See Tenement.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Tenement

Ten"ant\, n. [F. tenant, p. pr. of tenir to hold. See Tenable, and cf. Lieutenant.]

1. (Law) One who holds or possesses lands, or other real estate, by any kind of right, whether in fee simple, in common, in severalty, for life, for years, or at will; also, one who has the occupation or temporary possession of lands or tenements the title of which is in another; -- correlative to landlord. See Citation from --Blackstone, under Tenement, 2. --Blount. Wharton.

2. One who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant. "Sweet tenants of this grove." --Cowper.

The hhappy tenant of your shade. --Cowley.

The sister tenants of the middle deep. --Byron.

Tenant in capite [L. in in + capite, abl. of caput head, chief.], or Tenant in chief, by the laws of England, one who holds immediately of the king. According to the feudal system, all lands in England are considered as held immediately or mediately of the king, who is styled lord paramount. Such tenants, however, are considered as having the fee of the lands and permanent possession. --Blackstone.

Tenant in common. See under Common.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Tenement

Ten"e*ment\, n. [OF. tenement a holding, a fief, F. t[`e]nement, LL. tenementum, fr. L. tenere to hold. See Tenant.]

1. (Feud. Law) That which is held of another by service; property which one holds of a lord or proprietor in consideration of some military or pecuniary service; fief; fee.

2. (Common Law) Any species of permanent property that may be held, so as to create a tenancy, as lands, houses, rents, commons, an office, an advowson, a franchise, a right of common, a peerage, and the like; -- called also free or frank tenements.

The thing held is a tenement, the possessor of it a "tenant," and the manner of possession is called "tenure." --Blackstone.

3. A dwelling house; a building for a habitation; also, an apartment, or suite of rooms, in a building, used by one family; often, a house erected to be rented.

4. Fig.: Dwelling; abode; habitation.

Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit no tenement, unless it has just such a sort of frontispiece? --Locke.

Tenement house, commonly, a dwelling house erected for the purpose of being rented, and divided into separate apartments or tenements for families. The term is often applied to apartment houses occupied by poor families.

Syn: House; dwelling; habitation.

Usage: Tenement, House. There may be many houses under one roof, but they are completely separated from each other by party walls. A tenement may be detached by itself, or it may be part of a house divided off for the use of a family.

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