tenure

Meanings

1. A status of possessing a thing or an office; an incumbency.
2. A period of time during which something is possessed.
3. A status of having a permanent post with enhanced job security within an academic institution.
4. A right to hold land under the feudal system.

1. To grant tenure, the status of having a permanent academic position, to (someone).

Etymology

From Middle English tenure, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French tenure, from Vulgar Latin *tenitura, from *tenitus, from Latin tentus (from teneō) + -ura.