TENEMENTS
Noun
tenements
plural of tenement
Source: Wiktionary
TENEMENT
Ten"e*ment, n. Etym: [OF. tenement a holding, a fief, F. tènement,
LL. tenementum, fr. L. tenere to hold. See Tenant.]
1. (Feud. Law)
Definition: 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)
Definition: 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.
– 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition