Can the word "premise" ever refer to a location or building? I have noticed that "premise" is being used in the computer industry to refer to a computer system that is located at a customer's place of business. I think that this is a misuse of the word and that the word "premises" should be used instead.
Learn English – “Premise” as a location
meaning
Best Answer
I think you're right. If I'm understanding you, the uses you noticed were adjectival, for example, "the premise system started a major fire in the customer's clean room".
In a cursory search (online and the OED), I did not find a precedent for adjectival use of "premises" in the singular, much less use in the singular as a noun to describe a "location or building".
It is of course not the first time, nor will it be the last, that the computer industry has so callowly abused our fine English language.