frank tenements

1 definition found

frank tenements - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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.
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     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  tenements
         or frank tenements.
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              The thing held is a tenement, the possessor of it a
              "tenant," and the manner of possession is called
              "tenure."                             --Blackstone.
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     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.
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     4. Fig.: Dwelling; abode; habitation.
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              Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit
              no tenement, unless it has just such a sort of
              frontispiece?                         --Locke.
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     5. A tenement house.
        [PJC]
  
     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,
        often overcrowded and in poor condition.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     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. In modern usage, a tenement or
            tenement house most commonly refers to the meaning
            given for tenement house, above.
            [1913 Webster +PJC]