Lease

n. [Norm. Fr. lees, lez, O. Fr. lais, L. Lat. lessa. See infra.]

1Sense 1. A demise or letting of lands or tenements to another for life, for a term of years, or at will, or for any less interest than the lessor has in the property, for a rent or compensation reserved.

2Sense 2. The contract for such letting.

3Sense 3. Any tenure by grant or permission; the time for which such a tenure holds good.

Our high-placed Macbeth Shall live the lease of nature. Shak.

Lease and release, a mode of conveyance of freehold estates, formerly common in England and in New York. Its place is now supplied by a simple deed of grant. Burrill. Warren’s Blackstone.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. LEASED (leest); p. pr. & vb. n. LEASING.] [Fr. laisser, O. Fr. laissier, lessier, leissier, lesser, to leave, transmit, Pr. laissar, It. lasciare, lassare, from Lat. laxare, to loose, slacken, from laxus, loose, wide.] To grant the temporary possession of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to another, for a rent reserved; to let; to demise; as, to lease a farm or house.

(leez), v. i. [A-S. lesan, Goth. lisan, to gather, O. Sax. lesan, O. H. Ger. lesan, N. H. Ger. lesen, D. lezen, Icel. läsa, to gather, to read, Sw. läsa, Dan. læse, to read.] To gather what harvest-men have left behind; to glean. [Obs.] Dryden.