Tēn'e-ment, n.

n. [O. Fr. tenément, Pr. tenement, tenemen, O. Sp. tenemiento, tenimiento, It. tenimento, L. Lat. tenementum, from Lat. tenere, to hold.]

1. A house or lands depending on a manor; or a fee farm depending on a superior.
2. A dwelling house; a building for a habitation; or an apartment in a building, used by one family; often, in modern usage, an inferior dwelling house rented to poor persons, or a dwelling erected for the purpose of being rented;—called also tenement-house.
3. (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, and the possessor of it a “tenant,” and the manner of possession is called “tenure.” Blackstone. 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 distinct family. “'Tis policy for father and son to take different sides; for then lands and tenements commit no treason.” Dryden. “Theodosius arrived at a religious house in the city, where now Constantia lived.” Addison.