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.]
1483, from Anglo-Fr. les (1292), from lesser "to let, let go," from O.Fr. laissier "to let, leave," from L. laxare "loosen, open, make wide," from laxus "loose" (see lax). The verb is attested from 1570. Lessor, lessee in contract language preserves the Anglo-Fr. form.
Lax\, a. [Compar. Laxer; superl. Laxest.] [L. laxus Cf. Laches, Languish, Lease, v. t., Leash.]1. Not tense, firm, or rigid; loose; slack; as, a lax bandage; lax fiber. The flesh of that sort of fish being lax and spongy. --Ray. 2. Not strict or stringent; not exact; loose; weak; vague; equivocal. The discipline was lax. --Macaulay. Society at that epoch was lenient, if not lax, in matters of the passions. --J. A. Symonds. The word "[ae]ternus" itself is sometimes of a lax signification. --Jortin. 3. Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal. Syn: Loose; slack; vague; unconfined; unrestrained; dissolute; licentious.
Lease\, v. i. [AS. lesan to gather; akin to D. lezen to gather, read, G. lesen, Goth. lisan to gather; cf. Lith lesti to peck.] To gather what harvesters have left behind; to glean. [Obs.] --Dryden.
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