Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

   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 or
      frank tenements}.

            The thing held is a tenement, the possessor of it a
            ``tenant,'' and the manner of possession is called
            ``tenure.''                           --Blackstone.

   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.

   4. Fig.: Dwelling; abode; habitation.

            Who has informed us that a rational soul can inhabit
            no tenement, unless it has just such a sort of
            frontispiece?                         --Locke.

   {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.

   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.

Source : WordNet®

tenement house
     n : a rundown apartment house barely meeting minimal standards
         [syn: {tenement}]