Both Uses of
tenure
in
The Scarlet Letter
- For upwards of twenty years before this epoch, the independent position of the Collector had kept the Salem Custom-House out of the whirlpool of political vicissitude, which makes the tenure of office generally so fragile.†
Chpt Intr. *
- Suffice it here to say that a Custom-House officer of long continuance can hardly be a very praiseworthy or respectable personage, for many reasons; one of them, the tenure by which he holds his situation, and another, the very nature of his business, which—though, I trust, an honest one—is of such a sort that he does not share in the united effort of mankind.†
Chpt Intr.
Definition:
-
(tenure) the time period during which a position or right is held -- such as the time a political office was held
or:
the right to permanent employment -- often earned by teachers after years of service