tenement

Etymology

From Middle English tenement, from Anglo-Norman tenement (“holding”), from Old French tenement, from Medieval Latin tenimentum, from Latin teneō (“hold”).

noun

1. A building that is rented to multiple tenants, especially a low-rent, run-down one.
2. (law) Any form of property that is held by one person from another, rather than being owned.
   The island of Brecqhou is a tenement of Sark.
3. (figurative) Dwelling; abode; habitation.
   Where she came from no man could tell. There were some said she was no woman, but a ghost haunting some mortal tenement. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide