a contract renting land, buildings, etc., to another; a contract or instrument conveying property to another for a specified period or for a period determinable at the will of either lessor or lessee in consideration of rent or other compensation.
2.
the property leased.
3.
the period of time for which a lease is made: a five-year lease.
–verb (used with object)
4.
to grant the temporary possession or use of (lands, tenements, etc.) to another, usually for compensation at a fixed rate; let: She plans to lease her apartment to a friend.
5.
to take or hold by lease: He leased the farm from the sheriff.
–verb (used without object)
6.
to grant a lease; let or rent: to lease at a lower rental.
—Idiom
7.
a new lease on life, a chance to improve one's situation or to live longer or more happily: Plastic surgery gave him a new lease on life.
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME les < AF (equiv. to OF lais, F legs legacy), n. deriv. of lesser to lease, lit., let go (equiv. to OF laissier) < L laxāre to release, let go. See lax]
A contract granting use or occupation of property during a specified period in exchange for a specified rent.
The term or duration of such a contract.
Property used or occupied under the terms of such a contract.
v.
tr.leased, leas·ing, leas·es
To grant use or occupation of under the terms of a contract.
To get or hold by such a contract.
[Middle English les, from Anglo-Norman, from lesser, to lease, variant of Old French laissier, to let go, from Latin laxāre, to loosen, from laxus, loose; see slēg- in Indo-European roots.]
Lease\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leased; p. pr. & vb. n. Leasing.] [F. laisser, OF. laissier, lessier, to leave, transmit, L. laxare to loose, slacken, from laxus loose, wide. See Lax, and cf. Lesser.]1. To grant to another by lease the possession of, as of lands, tenements, and hereditaments; to let; to demise; as, a landowner leases a farm to a tenant; -- sometimes with out. There were some [houses] that were leased out for three lives. --Addison. 2. To hold under a lease; to take lease of; as, a tenant leases his land from the owner.
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