Forms: 4–5 apurtena(u)nce, -tynaunce, aportenance, -anse, 6 apertinaunce; 4–6 appur-, apper-, 5 appar-, apportenaunce, -tenanse, 6 appertaynens, appar-, 6–9 apper-, 7–9 appurtenance. Aphet. 4–5 portin-, porten-, purtenaunce. [a. AF. apurtenance (12th c. in Littré), OF. aper- and, regularly, apartenance (cf. Pr. apartenensa, It. appartenenza):—late L. appertinēntia, f. appertinēre: see APPERTAIN and -ANCE. The second vowel has varied, as a, e, o, u, but the last is now the accepted spelling. For instances assimilated to appertain, see APPERTAINANCE. Formerly often used unchanged in the plural.]
1. Law and gen. A thing that belongs to another, a ‘belonging’; a minor property, right, or privilege, belonging to another more important, and passing in possession with it; an appendage.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 103. To haue and to holde · and here eyres after, A dwellyng with þe deuel … Wiþ al þe purtenaunces [1393 portinaunce] of purgatorie.
1418. E. E. Wills (1882), 28. I bequethe to … my wyf my Maner of Staverton with the appurtenaunces.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, lxv. 165. The cyte of Lawrence wyth the appartenaunces.
1557. K. Arthur, VI. xi. I wolde that he receyued it as his ryght and appertenaunce.
1691. Blount, L. D., Appertinances are things both Corporeal, belonging to another thing, as to the more principal; as Hamlets to a chief Mannor … and Incorporeal, as Liberties, and Services of Tenants.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. xiv. 94. The county of Chester, with valuable appurtenances, was transferred to Simon.
2. A thing that naturally and fitly forms a subordinate part of, or belongs to, a whole system; a contributory adjunct, an accessory.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 184. Pryde with al þe appurtenaunce [v.r. appurtenaunces, purtenaunce; 1393, portinaunce].
1570. Dee, Math. Præf., 36. This, with all other Cases … and appertenances, this Arte demonstrateth.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 388. The appurtenance of Welcome is Fashion and Ceremony.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., ix. 192. The soul would not appear to them as a faculty of the body, or kind of appurtenance to it.
1835. Willis, Pencillings, I. i. 10. A personification of the cholera, with skeleton armour and blood-shot eyes, and other horrible appurtenances of a walking pestilence.
3. esp. in pl. The mechanical accessories employed in any function or complex scheme; apparatus, gear. Also fig.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pers. T., ¶ 719. Now cometh hasardrie with his appertenaunce [v.r. apurtenaunces, -tynaunces, -tenance, -ortenancis, appurtenaunce] as tables and rafles.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, V. 1. 125. The Counterfortes, and the other appertenances of the Bulwarke.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. § 10 (1873), 80. Astrolabes … provided as appurtenances to astronomy.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 66. The Pope, with his appertinences the Prelats.
1764. Reid, Inquiry, vi. § 1. The structure of the eye, and of all its appurtenances.
1840. J. M. Wilson, T. of Borders (1851), XIX. 253. The wine, the plate, the servants in livery, and all the appurtenances of a great establishment.
4. The fact or state of appertaining.
1846. Landor, Exam. Shaks., Wks. II. 276 (archaic). Swans and herons have something in their very names announcing them of knightly appertenance.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., v. 94. The word is a token of the most indefinite appurtenance.
