Forms: α. 4–6 tenaunt, -aunte, ante, Sc. -ente (4 pl. -auns), 5 ten(e)awnte, -awunt, pl. -aunce, 5–6 tennaunte, 6–7 -ant, -ent(e, 7 -ent, 7–8 tenent, 4– tenant. β. Sc. and n. dial. 4–6 tenand(e, 5 tennend, 5–6 -and, 6 tenaind. [a. F. tenant sb. (12th c. in Godef.), orig. pr. pple. of tenir:—L. tenēre to hold.]
1. Law. One who holds or possesses lands or tenements by any kind of title. (In English Law implying a lord, of whom the tenant holds.)
[1292. Britton, I. i. § 13. En counteez et hundrez et en Court de chescun fraunc tenaunt.]
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 19. Adelwolf of Westsex, after his fadere dede, At Chestre sette his parlement, his tenantz þerto bede.
c. 1375. Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.), 369. Oure frendes, tenandes, & seruandes.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 22. Oþir tenauntis of þe lord shal receyve me into þere housis.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 609. An ilk scheld in that place Thar tennend or man was.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., x. (1885), 134. By escheittes per mey not so muche lande fall to any man as to þe kyng, by cause þat no man hath so many tenantes as he.
1563. Homilies, II. Rogation Week, IV. (1859), 496. Whereby the lord’s records, (which be the tenant’s evidences,) be perverted … sometime to the disheriting of the right owner.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 481. Where be thy Tenants, and thy followers?
1607. Cowell, Interpr. (1672). Tenant or Tenent,… one that holds or possesses Lands or Tenements by any kind of Right, be it in Fee, for Life, Years, or at Will.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. v. 59. The thing holden is therefore styled a tenement, the possessors thereof tenants, and the manner of their possession a tenure.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist (1876), II. IX. 129. The military tenants were frequently called upon in expeditions against Scotland, and last of all in that of 1640.
1845. Polson, Eng. Law, in Encycl. Metrop., II. 828/1. He is called tenant [in fee simple] in virtue of the doctrine … which treats the king as the universal landlord—a doctrine so far recognised by our law, that in corporeal inheritances … the tenant in fee simple is formally styled as being seised in his demesne as of fee.
b. With qualifications indicating the species of tenure, the relation between lord and tenant, etc., as customary, kindly, mesne, several, sole, very tenant: see the adjs. Also JOINT-TENANT; tenant in burgage, in capite, in chief, in common, by courtesy, in dower, paravail, etc.: see these words, and quots. here. Tenant through law of England = tenant by courtesy; tenant to the præcipe, a tenant against whom the writ præcipe was brought, being one to whom an entailed estate had been granted by the owner in order that it might be alienated by a recovery; see RECOVERY 4. See also TENANT AT WILL.
a. 1325. MS. Rawl., B. 520, lf. 17 b. Þat is i-seid for women holdinde in dowere, ant tenauns þoru lawe of yngelonde.
1461. Rolls of Parlt., V. 485/2. The same halfendele enjoye to hym, for terme of his lyf, as Tenaunt by the Curtesie. Ibid. (1475), VI. 149/1. That the said Maude have … actions by Writts of Dower,… ayenst all persones Tenaunt or Tenauntes of the Frehold. Ibid. (1495), 508/2. Discontinuances made by Tenauntes in Dower.
[1602. Coke, Reports, III. Case of Fines, 88. Entant qu’il ne fuit tenant al Precipe.]
1607. Cowell, Interpr. (1672), Tenant per Statute-Merchant, that holds Land by vertue of a Statute forfeited to him…. Tenant in Frank-marriage..., he that holds Lands or Tenements by vertue of a Gift thereof made to him upon Marriage between him and his Wife…. Tenant by Elegit, that holds by vertue of the Writ called an Elegit. Tenant in Mortgage, that holds by means of a Mortgage. Tenant by the Verge in ancient Demesne…, is he that is admitted by the Rod in a Court of ancient Demesne. Tenant by Copy of Court-Roll, is one admitted Tenant of any Lands, &c. within a Mannor, which time out of mind have been demisable, according to the Custome of the Mannor…. Tenant by Charter, is he that holdeth by Feoffment in Writing, or other Deed…. Tenant in Chief, that holdeth of the King in Right of his Crown…. Very Tenant, that holds immediately of his Lord…. For if there be Lord, Mesne and Tenant, the Tenant is very Tenant of the Mesne, but not to the Lord above…. There are also Joynt-tenants, that have equal Right in Lands … by vertue of one Title…. Tenants in Common, that have equal Right, but hold by divers Titles…. Sole tenant..., he that hath no other joyned with him. Several tenant is opposite to Joynt-tenant, or Tenants in Common. Tenant al Præcipe is he against whom the Writ Præcipe is to be brought…. Tenant in Demesne..., is he that holdeth the Demeans of a Mannor for a Rent without Service. Tenant in Service..., is he that holdeth by Service…. Tenant by Execution..., that holds Land by vertue of an Execution upon any Statute, Recognisance, &c.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 333. So that he could make a good tenant to the præcipe.
1827. Jarman, Powell’s Devises (ed. 3), II. 113. It was held that the reversion in the settled lands passed, although the wife was tenant for life, and the daughter tenant in tail, in those lands under the settlement.
1844. Sir J. Stephen, Eccl. Biog. (1850), I. 26. And held them [their crowns and mitres] not mediately through each other, but immediately, as tenants in capite, from the one legitimate representative of the great Apostle.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. iii. 11. The right of all tenants-in-chief of the Crown … to be summoned to a common council of the realm.
2. One who holds a piece of land, a house, etc., by lease for a term of years or a set time. (The ordinary current sense. Correlative of landlord.)
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 305. To take of her tenauntz more þan treuth wolde.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 414. He begges not þis rent of þo lordis tenaunte.
1479–81. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 110. Yevyn to ther tenauntes at the Receyvyng of the Rentes, and in potacions amonge them … x s. v d.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 123. Than shall his farme be twyse so good in profyte to the tenaunt as it was before.
1526. Tindale, Mark xii. 2. When tyme was come he sentt to the tennauntes a servaunt that he myght of the tenauntes receave of the frute of the vyneyarde.
1639. Horn & Rob., Gate Lang. Unl., xxxii. § 386. He is a tenant, to whom house and grounds, and hired farms are, for a certain rent, let out to farm for a set time.
1770. Junius Lett., xxxvi. (1820), 179. Like broken tenants, who have had warning to quit the premises.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xvi. Of this chamber, Nicholas became the tenant; and having … paid the first week’s hire in advance [etc.].
Mod. (Title) The Law of Landlord and Tenant.
3. transf. and fig. One who or that which inhabits or occupies any place; a denizen, inhabitant, occupant, dweller.
1388. Wyclif, Job xix. 15. The tenauntis of myn hows, and myn handmaydis hadden me as a straunger.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. i. 50. That Frame [the gallows] outliues a thousand Tenants.
1650. W. Charleton, trans. van Helmont’s Exist. God Demonst., v. 194. If he be tormented in his body; that his raggs of Flesh are torn off, his mud-walled Cottage shattered, but the impatible Tenant, his Soul, remains whole and invulnerable.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 788. While thus the gentle tenants of the shade Indulge their purer loves.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 65. The shudd’ring tenant of the frigid zone. Ibid. (1774), Nat. Hist. (1824), II. 327. One of the most splendid tenants of the Mexican forests.
1799. Campbell, Pleas. Hope, I. 268. The dim-eyed tenant of the dungeon gloom.
1827. Scott, Highl. Widow, v. As if sorrow, or even deep thought, should as short a while as possible be the tenant of the soldier’s bosom.
1830. Mrs. Loudon, First Love, III. ii. 13. And now, the words, ‘Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,’ fell on the senses with that chill, that shuddering, involuntary sympathy with the unconscious tenant of the grave, which instinct grants, while reason would withhold.
1879. Daily News, 27 Sept., 6/3. Tenants of our British waters.
1882. Daily Tel., 19 May, Mr. Bettesworth was the incoming tenantf [i.e., batsman], and, after some slow play, the 50 went up.
4. attrib. and Comb. Simple attrib., as tenant-holding (HOLDING vbl. sb. 3), -risk, -system; appositive, as tenant-cultivator, -farmer (hence tenant-farming sb. and adj.), -occupier, -purchaser, -soul; also tenant-sted a. Sc., occupied by a tenant. See also TENANT-RIGHT.
1860. All Year Round, No. 71. 485. Those down-trodden vassals, the *tenant farmers.
1887. Edin. Rev., Oct., 301. In Rhône … *tenant-farming is unprofitable.
1891. Daily News, 11 Dec., 6/4. He came of a tenant farming race.
1591. in A. McKay, Hist. Kilmarnock (1880), 359. We give and grant all the *tenant-holdings, free holdings [etc.].
1906. Westm. Gaz., 7 Nov., 9/2. Entitled to be on the list as the *tenant-occupier of a dwelling-house, being part of a house, and such part being separately occupied.
1895. J. E. Redmond, in 19th Cent., Dec., 913. The *tenant-purchasers have been remarkably punctual in their payments.
1880. A. Arnold, Free Land, 68. *Tenant-risk and the absence of tenant-right have contributed to drive capital away from agriculture.
1710. Ld. Fountainhall, Decis. (1761), II. 568. The rest of the rooms were lying waste, and this was only *tenant-sted.
1906. Daily Chron., 13 Sept., 5/7. The canteen is run on the *tenant system.
