quitrent

[ kwit-rent ]

noun
  1. rent paid by a freeholder or copyholder in lieu of services that might otherwise have been required.

Origin of quitrent

1
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at quit1, rent1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use quitrent in a sentence

  • It is particularly the case where the cottages are the property of the labourer himself, and are held at a low quit-rent.

    The Hills and the Vale | Richard Jefferies
  • Under the system of the quit-rent the tenant still had complete control of his land although he did not own it.

    The Stronghold | Miriam Haynie
  • The phrase was afterwards applied to any holding of which the quit-rent was merely nominal, such as a penny, a peppercorn, &c.

  • The government held that private titles were invalid, unless confirmed by the Crown on the payment of a quit rent.

    A Memoir of Sir Edmund Andros, Knt., | William Henry Whitmore
  • A tenant at a quit rent is, to all intents and purposes, a proprietor; a copyholder is not less so than a freeholder.

    Present Irish Questions | William O'Connor Morris

British Dictionary definitions for quitrent

quitrent

/ (ˈkwɪtˌrɛnt) /


noun
  1. (formerly) a rent payable by a freeholder or copyholder to his lord that released him from liability to perform services

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012