leese
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English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English lesen, from Old English *lēosan (only attested in compounds: belēosan, forlēosan, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”).
Verb
[edit]leese (third-person singular simple present leeses, present participle leesing, simple past lore or leesed, past participle lorn or leesed)
- (obsolete) To lose.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 5”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.
- a. 1598, William Cecil, Advice to his son:
- They would rather leese their friend than their jest.
- 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Ægloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:
- Yet better leave off with a little losse,
Then by much wrestling to leese the grosse
- 1599 (first performance), B. I. [i.e., Ben Jonson], The Comicall Satyre of Euery Man out of His Humor. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for William Holme, […], published 1600, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, signature O iij, recto:
- Take heed you leeſe it not Signior, ere you come there: preſerue it.
Related terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]From Middle English lesen, from Old English lȳsan, līesan (“to let loose; release”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną. Cognate with Dutch lozen, German lösen, Swedish lösa.
Verb
[edit]leese (third-person singular simple present leeses, present participle leesing, simple past and past participle leesed)
Etymology 3
[edit]Compare French léser, Latin laesus.
Verb
[edit]leese
- (obsolete, transitive) To hurt.
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