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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Tenement


TEN'EMENT, noun [Low Latin tenementum, from teneo, to hold.]

1. In common acceptation, a house; a building for a habitation; or an apartment in a building, used by one family.

2. A house or lands depending on a manor; or a fee farm depending on a superior.

3. In law, any species of permanent property that may be held, as land, houses, rents, commons, an office, an advowson, a franchise, a right of common, a peerage, etc. These are called free or frank tenements.

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