lease

See also: Lease, léase, and -lease

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /liːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs

Etymology 1

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lesan (“to collect, pick, select, gather”), from Proto-Germanic *lesaną (“to gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *les- (“to gather”). Cognate with Scots lease (“to arrange, gather”), Saterland Frisian leese (“to gather, read”), West Frisian lêze (“to read”), Dutch lezen (“to gather, read”), German lesen (“to gather, read”), Danish læse (“to collect, read”).

Verb

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

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:lease.

Etymology 2

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

Verb

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

Derived terms

• leasing

Etymology 3

From Middle English lese, from Old English lǣs (“meadow”), from Proto-Germanic *lēswō (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēy-, *lēyd- (“to leave, let”). Cognate with Old Saxon lēsa (“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 4

From Middle English lesen, from Old English līesan (“to loosen, release, redeem, deliver, liberate”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną (“to release, loosen”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to cut, solve, separate”). Cognate with Dutch lozen (“to drain, discharge”), German lösen (“to release”), Swedish lösa (“to solve”), Icelandic leysa (“to solve”).

Alternative forms

• leese (Scotland)

Verb

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

Etymology 5

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”). More at let.

Verb

1. (transitive) To operate or live in some property or land through purchasing a long-term contract (or leasehold) from the owner (or freeholder).
2. (transitive) To take or hold by lease.
3. (intransitive) To grant a lease; to let or rent.

Derived terms

• re-lease

Translations

to operate or live in some property or land through purchasing a long-term contract

• Dutch: pachten (nl)
• Finnish: vuokrata (fi)
• German: pachten (de)
• Irish: léasaigh
• Maori: rīhi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: اجاره کردن (fa) (ejâre kardan)
• Portuguese: arrendar (pt)
• Russian: арендова́ть (ru) impf (arendovátʹ), брать в аре́нду impf (bratʹ v aréndu), взять в аре́нду pf (vzjatʹ v aréndu), брать внаём impf (bratʹ vnajóm), взять внаём pf (vzjatʹ vnajóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: gabh air mhàl

Noun

lease (plural leases)

1. A contract granting use or occupation of property during a specified period in exchange for a specified rent
2. The period of such a contract
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18:

     Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

     And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

3. A leasehold

Derived terms

• off-lease

Translations

contract granting use or occupation of property

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 租約／租约 (zh) (zūyuē), 租约 (zh) (zūyuē)

• Dutch: pacht (nl) m or f
• Finnish: vuokrasopimus (fi)
• French: contrat de bail m, bail (fr) m
• Georgian: იჯარა (iǯara)
• German: Pacht (de) f
• Greek: σύμβαση μίσθωσης (sýmvasi místhosis), μισθωτήριο (el) (misthotírio), εκμίσθωση (el) f (ekmísthosi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: locātum (la) n
• Maori: rīhi
• Persian: اجاره‌نامه (ejâre-nâme)
• Polish: leasing (pl) m
• Romanian: contract de închiriere n
• Russian: аре́нда (ru) f (arénda), ли́зинг (ru) m (lízing), сда́ча в аре́нду f (sdáča v aréndu), сда́ча внаём f (sdáča vnajóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: gabhail m or f
• Spanish: contrato de arrendamiento m

period of such a contract

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 租期 (zh) (zūqī)

• Finnish: vuokra-aika
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: loyer (fr) m
• Maori: rīhitanga
• Persian: مدت اجاره (moddat-e ejâre)

Descendants

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

Related terms

• lessor, lessee

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, seale

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

lease

1. (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of leasen
2. (deprecated template usage) (archaic) singular present subjunctive of leasen
3. (deprecated template usage) imperative of leasen

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Middle English

Adjective

lease

1. Alternative form of les

Noun

lease

1. Alternative form of les