| ease (iːz) |
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| —n |
| 1. | freedom from discomfort, worry, or anxiety |
| 2. | lack of difficulty, labour, or awkwardness; facility |
| 3. | rest, leisure, or relaxation |
| 4. | freedom from poverty or financial embarrassment; affluence: a life of ease |
| 5. | lack of restraint, embarrassment, or stiffness: his ease of manner disarmed us |
| 6. | military at ease |
| | a. (of a standing soldier, etc) in a relaxed position with the feet apart and hands linked behind the back |
| | b. a command to adopt such a position |
| | c. in a relaxed attitude or frame of mind |
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| —vb (when intr, often foll by off or up) |
| 7. | to make or become less burdensome |
| 8. | (tr) to relieve (a person) of worry or care; comfort |
| 9. | (tr) to make comfortable or give rest to |
| 10. | (tr) to make less difficult; facilitate |
| 11. | to move or cause to move into, out of, etc, with careful manipulation: to ease a car into a narrow space |
| 12. | to lessen or cause to lessen in severity, pressure, tension, or strain; slacken, loosen, or abate |
| 13. | archaic, euphemistic ease oneself, ease nature to urinate or defecate |
| 14. | nautical ease the helm to relieve the pressure on the rudder of a vessel, esp by bringing the bow into the wind |
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| [C13: from Old French aise ease, opportunity, from Latin adjacēns neighbouring (area); see adjacent] |
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| 'easer |
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| —n |