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appurtenance

[uh-pur-tn-uh ns]
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noun
  1. something subordinate to another, more important thing; adjunct; accessory.
  2. Law. a right, privilege, or improvement belonging to and passing with a principal property.
  3. appurtenances, apparatus; instruments.
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Origin of appurtenance

1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, equivalent to ap- ap-1 + -purtenance a belonging; see purtenance
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

apparatusannexadditioncomponentappendixattachmentappendage

Examples from the Web for appurtenance

Historical Examples

  • Yet we say, "I have hope," and there hope would be in the category of Having, Appurtenance.

    Logic, Inductive and Deductive

    William Minto

  • Appurtenance, ap-pur′ten-ans, n. that which appertains to: an appendage or accessory: (law) a right belonging to a property.

  • Indeed, that was as it should be; for she was only an appurtenance of my mattress, or self-acting bedstead on four castors.

  • One other appurtenance of a dining-room is found in all early inventories—a voider.

  • It may be called the Garden of Eden Room, for in every part and appurtenance it speaks of sweet content and blessed repose.

    The House of the Lord

    James E. Talmage

British Dictionary definitions for appurtenance

appurtenance

noun
  1. a secondary or less significant thing or part
  2. (plural) accessories or equipment
  3. property law a minor right, interest, or privilege which passes when the title to the principal property is transferred
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Word Origin

C14: from Anglo-French apurtenance, from Old French apartenance, from apartenir to appertain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for appurtenance

n.

c.1300, "right, privilege or possession subsidiary to a principal one," from Anglo-French apurtenance (12c.), Old French apartenance, present participle of apartenir "be related to," from Latin appertinere "to pertain to," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + pertinere "belong to" (see pertain).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper