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tenement - 5 dictionary results

ten⋅e⋅ment

  [ten-uh-muhnt]
Use tenement in a Sentence
–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 tenēmentum, equiv. to L tenē(re) to hold + -mentum -ment

Related forms:
ten⋅e⋅men⋅tal  [ten-uh-men-tl] , ten⋅e⋅men⋅ta⋅ry  [ten-uh-men-tuh-ree] , adjective
ten⋅e⋅ment⋅ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ten·e·ment   (těn'ə-mənt)   
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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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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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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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