habitance

English

Etymology

Old French habitance.

Noun

habitance (plural habitances)

1. (obsolete) dwelling; abode; residence
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     What art thou , man , ( if man at all thou art , )
     That here in desert hast thine habitance

   • 1882-1884, John Payne, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Story of the Birds and Beasts and the Son of Adam:

     Hardly had the peahen done speaking, when the antelope came up to them, thinking to shelter under the shade of the tree, and seeing the two birds, saluted them and said, ‘I came to this island to-day, and I have seen none richer in herbage nor more pleasant of habitance.’ Then he besought them of company and amity, and they, seeing his friendly behaviour to them, welcomed him and gladly accepted his offer.

References

• “habitance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.