1292 Britton i. i. §13 En counteez et hundrez et en Court de chescun fraunc tenaunt.]

c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1810) 19 Adelwolf of Westsex, after his fadere dede, At Chestre sette his parlement, his tenantz þerto bede.

c1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 369 Oure frendes, tenandes, & seruandes.

c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. I. 22 Oþir tenauntis of þe lord shal receyve me into þere housis.

c1460 J. Fortescue Governance of Eng. (1885) x. 134 By escheittes þer mey not so muche lande fall to any man as to þe kyng, by cause þat no man hath so many tenantes as he.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 609 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 114 And Ilk scheld in yat place Thar tennend or man was.

1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Rogation Week iv, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 496 Whereby the lord's records, (which be the tenant's evidences,) be perverted..sometime to the disheriting of the right owner.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iv. iv. 411 Where are thy tennants? and thy followers? View more context for this quotation

1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Sss3^v Tenant, aliâs tenent,..him that possesseth lands, or tenements by any kind of right, be it in fee, for life, or for yeares.

1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. v. 59 The thing holden is therefore styled a tenement, the possessors thereof tenants, and the manner of their possession a tenure.

1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. ix. 592 The military tenants were frequently called upon in expeditions against Scotland, and last of all in that of 1640.

a1832 A. Polson Eng. Law in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) 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.

a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) vii. 39 Þat is iseid for women holdinde in dowere, ant tenauns þoru lawe of Yngelonde.

1461 Rolls of Parl. V. 485/2 The same halfendele..enjoye to hym, for terme of his lyf, as Tenaunt by the Curtesie.

1475 Rolls of Parl. VI. 149/1 That the said Maude have..actions by Writts of Dower,..ayenst all persones Tenaunt or Tenauntes of the Frehold.

1495 Rolls of Parl. VI. 508/2 Discontinuances made by Tenauntes in Dower.

1602 E. Coke Rep. iii. Case of Fines 88 Entant qu'il ne fuit tenant al Precipe.]

1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Sss3^v Tenent per Statute Merchant.., that holdeth land by vertue of a statute forfeited vnto him... Tenent in frankmariage.., he that holdeth land or tenements by reason of a gift thereof made vnto him vpon marriage, betweene him and his wife... Tenent per elegit.., that holdeth by vertue of a writ termed Elegit. Tenent in mortgage.., that holdeth by vertue of a mortgage. Tenent by the Verge in auncient demesn..is he that is admitted by the rod in the court of auncient demesne. Tenent by the copy of court rolle, is one admitted Tenent of any Lands, &c. within a maner, that time out of the memorie of man, by the vse and custome of the said maner... Tenent by Charter, is he that holdeth by the feofment in writing or other deede... Tenent in cheife.., he that houldeth of the King in right of his crowne... Very tenent.., he that houldeth immediately of his Lord... For if there be lord Mesn. and Tenent, the Tenent is very Tenent to the mesn, but not to the Lord aboue... Ioynt-tenents.., they that haue equall right in lands..by vertue of one title... Tenents in common, be they that haue equall right, but hold by diuers titles... Sole tenent.., he that hath none other ioyned with him... Seuerall tenent, is opposite to ioynt tenents or tenents in common... Tenent al præcipe, is he, against whom the writ (Præcipe) is to be brought... Tenent in demesn.., is he that holdeth the demeans of a maner for a rent without seruice. Tenent in seruice.., is he that holdeth by seruice... Tenent by execution.., that holdeth land by vertue of an execution vpon any statute, recognisance, &c.

1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) V. 333 So that he could make a good tenant to the præcipe.

1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of 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 J. Stephen Ess. Eccl. Biogr. (1850) I. 26 And held them [their crowns and mitres]..immediately, as tenants in capite, from the one legitimate representative of the great postle.

1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. iii. 11 The right of all tenants-in-chief of the Crown..to be summoned to a common council of the realm.

1591 in A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (1880) 359 We give and grant all the tenant-holdings, free holdings [etc.].

1880 A. Arnold Free Land 68 Tenant-risk and the absence of tenant-right have contributed to drive capital away from agriculture.

1906 Daily Chron. 13 Sept. 5/7 The canteen is run on the tenant system.

1949 Time 27 June 84/2 The 1,600 acres he tenant-farms.

1979 P. Theroux Old Patagonian Express xvii. 263 These are tenant farms..these people own nothing but the clothes on their backs.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. xxiv. 208 Attended by Susan Morrison, a tenant-farmer's daughter.

1860 All Year Round 1 Sept. 485 Those down-trodden vassals, the tenant farmers.

1861 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1859–60 4 203 On the greater part of this farm are the usual indices of tenant farming.

1887 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 301 In Rhône..tenant-farming is unprofitable.

1891 Daily News 11 Dec. 6/4 He came of a tenant farming race.

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.

1635 W. Habington Castara (ed. 2) iii. 195 To the cold humble hermitage (Not tenanted but by discoloured age).

?1677 S. Primatt City & Covntry Purchaser & Builder 34 Houses..without Tenants, decay sooner than those which are Tenanted.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 107. ⁋5 The greatest Part of Sir Roger's Estate is tenanted by Persons who have served himself or his Ancestors.

1795 R. Southey Vision Maid of Orleans i. 96 Damsel, look here! survey this house of death; O soon to tenant it.

1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. (1872) I. i. xiv. 300 Birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles, which tenanted the fertile region.

1855 Ld. Tennyson Brook in Maud & Other Poems 113 We bought the farm we tenanted before.

1670 J. Newburgh in J. Evelyn Pomona 54 in Sylva (ed. 2) A Barrel newly tenanted by small Beer.

1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. vi. 113 A pair of boundless slippers that have been tenanted by a thousand feet.

1873 R. Broughton Nancy II. 183 Alternate clouds and sunshine tenant the sky.