Etymology From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre (“hold, keep”).
1
One who holds a lease (a tenancy).
Long even before the last tenant had occupied it, the room had been regarded with fear and aversion, and the end of that last tenant had in no way lightened the gloom that hung about the place.a. 1945, Arthur Morrison, The Thing in the Upper Room:
You are just a tenant here, you say / Living in and out of this life / As cheaply as you can1982, “The Sitting Room”, in The Sitting Room, performed by Anne Clark:
2
Broadly One who has possession of any place.
c. 1782-1783, William Cowper, Joy in Martyrdom sweet tenants of this grove
the happy tenant of your shade1647, Abraham Cowley, The Wish:
2 more examples
But not in silence pass Calypso's isles, / The sister tenants of the middle deep; [...]1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXVIII, page 75:
What words are these have fall’n from me? Can calm despair and wild unrest Be tenants of a single breast, Or sorrow such a changeling be?1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 26:
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.
multi-tenant hosting
4
Historical One who holds a feudal tenure in real property.
5
Law, PropertyBroadly One who owns real estate other than via allodial title.
Etymology From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre (“hold, keep”).
1
To hold as, or be, a tenant.
2
To inhabit.
His thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes fastened at the side with rusty clasps.1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
The felling of dense and lofty forests, which covered, even within the records of history, a considerable space on the globe, now tenanted by civilized man, must generally have lessened the amount of vegetable food throughout the space where these woods grew.1835, Charles Lyell, chapter IX, in Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book III, page 129:
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They lived in palatial residences[…]their harems tenanted by numerous women[…]1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 235:
tenant
noun
Etymology Possibly just a modification of tenet, but note obsolete tenent (“tenet”).