lease

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /liːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs

Etymology 1

From Middle English *lesen, from Anglo-Norman *leser, Old French lesser, laisier (“to let, let go”), partly from Latin laxō (“to loose”) and partly from Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, release”) (German lassen), cognate with Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, leave, rent”) whence let.

Noun

lease (plural leases)

1. (formal, law) An interest in land granting exclusive use or occupation of real estate for a limited period; a leasehold.
2. An interest granting exclusive use of any thing, such as a car or boat.
3. The contract or deed under which such an interest is granted.
4. The document containing such a contract or deed.
5. The period of such an interest.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. , London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
     And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Synonyms

• tenancy, letting

Hyponyms

• subtenancy, undertenancy, subletting, underletting, (informal) sublet, underlet

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Dutch: leasen
• ⇒ English: leasing
  • → Spanish: leasing
  • → Finnish: leasing
  • → Polish: leasing
  • → Swedish: leasing

Translations

Verb

lease (third-person singular simple present leases, present participle leasing, simple past and past participle leased)

1. (transitive, formal, law) To grant a lease as a landlord; to let.
2. (transitive, informal) To hold a lease as a tenant.

   I'm leasing a small apartment in Runcorn for a month while I'm there for work.

Derived terms

• lease-lend
• re-lease

Translations

Related terms

• lessor, lessee

Etymology 2

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lesan (“to collect, pick, select, gather”), from Proto-West Germanic *lesan, from Proto-Germanic *lesaną (“to gather”).

Verb

lease (third-person singular simple present leases, present participle leasing, simple past and past participle leased) (chiefly dialectal)

1. (transitive) To gather.
2. (transitive) To pick, select, pick out; to pick up.
3. (transitive) To glean.
4. (intransitive) To glean, gather up leavings.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:lease.

Etymology 3

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lēasian (“to lie, tell lies”), from lēas (“falsehood, lying, untruth, mistake”).

Verb

lease (third-person singular simple present leases, present participle leasing, simple past and past participle leased)

1. (transitive, intransitive, UK dialectal) To tell lies; tell lies about; slander; calumniate.

Derived terms

• leasing

Etymology 4

From Middle English lese, from Old English lǣs (“meadow”), from Proto-West Germanic *lāsu (“meadow”). See also leasow.

Alternative forms

• leaze

Noun

lease (plural leases)

1. An open pasture or common.
   • 1928, Thomas Hardy, He Never Expected Much:

     Since as a child I used to lie
     Upon the leaze and watch the sky,
     Never, I own, expected I
     That life would all be fair.

Etymology 5

From Middle English lesen, from Old English līesan (“to loosen, release, redeem, deliver, liberate”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną (“to release, loosen”).

Alternative forms

• leese (Scotland)

Verb

lease (third-person singular simple present leases, present participle leasing, simple past and past participle leased)

1. (transitive, UK dialectal) To release; let go; unloose.

Etymology 6

From leash.

Noun

lease (plural leases)

1. The place at which the warp-threads cross on a loom.

Anagrams

• Elsea, Seale, eales, easel, easle, seale

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːs/, /lis/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lease
• Homophone: lies

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English lease.

Noun

lease f (plural leases, diminutive leaseje n)

1. lease

   Synonym: pacht

Derived terms

• leaseauto
• leasewagen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

lease

1. inflection of leasen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive
   3. imperative

Galician

Verb

lease

1. first/third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of lear

Middle English

Adjective

lease

1. Alternative form of les

Noun

lease

1. Alternative form of les

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæ͜ɑː.se/,

Adjective

lēase

1. inflection of lēas:
   1. strong accusative feminine singular
   2. strong instrumental masculine/neuter singular
   3. strong nominative/accusative masculine/feminine plural
   4. weak nominative neuter/feminine singular