Boatman, shouldering hod etc, I rebuilt shared house (9)
I believe the answer is:
cohabited
'shared house' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with fundamental existence as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'boatman shouldering hod etc i rebuilt' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'boatman' could be 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman) and 'ab' is located in the answer.
'i' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cohabited that I've seen before include "came together under one roof" , "Lived together" .)