Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TEN'E-MENT, n. [Fr.; Low L. 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. Cyc.
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, &c. 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. Blackstone.