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tenement
6 dictionary results for: tenement
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
ten·e·ment       [ten-uh-muhnt] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.Also called tenement house. a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, esp. in a poor section of a large city.
2.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       [ten-uh-men-tl] Pronunciation Key, ten·e·men·ta·ry       [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.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ten·e·ment       (těn'ə-mənt)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A building for human habitation, especially one that is rented to tenants.
  2. A rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards.
  3. Chiefly British An apartment or room leased to a tenant.
  4. 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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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
tenement

noun
a run-down apartment house barely meeting minimal standards 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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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

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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