# lease

Pronunciation: say "LEES" /liːs/

## Noun

1. The contract or deed that grants someone exclusive use of property for a limited period, or the document that records it.
   - Simple: The agreement that lets someone use a home, land or other thing for a set time.
   - _Before you sign the lease, read the clause about who pays for repairs._
   - _Our lease doesn't allow pets, so we had to find the cat a new home._
4. An interest in land that gives someone exclusive use or occupation of real estate for a limited period; a leasehold.
   - Simple: The right to be the only one using land or a building for a set time.
   - _The restaurant owner sold the lease on her premises to a coffee chain._
   - _The college holds a long lease on the land beneath its stadium._
5. A right to the exclusive use of any kind of property, such as a car or a boat.
   - Simple: The right to be the only one using something, like a car or a boat.
   - _She took out a lease on a hybrid instead of buying one outright._
   - _The charter company offers a seasonal lease on its smaller sailboats._
6. The length of time for which a lease grants the use of property.
   - Simple: The amount of time you are allowed to use a place or thing under a lease.
   - _With only six months left on the lease, the shop owner started looking for a new location._
   - _The tenants hope to renew when the lease is up in the spring._
7. The temporary assignment of an IP address to a device on a network.
   - Simple: The use of a network address that a device gets for a limited time.
   - _When its lease runs out, the laptop asks the router for a new IP address._
   - _The router's admin page lists every lease it has handed out, along with each device's name._
15. An open stretch of pasture, or common land. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: An open field of grass for animals, or land that a whole village can use.
   - _Sheep from three farms grazed together on the lease below the church._
   - _The children cut across the lease on their way to school, scattering the geese._
17. The point on a loom where the warp threads cross one another. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: The place on a loom where the long threads cross over each other.
   - _She slid two flat sticks through the lease to hold the warp in place while she worked._
   - _If the lease is lost, the warp threads tangle and have to be sorted by hand._

## Verb

2. To rent property from its owner under a lease, as the tenant. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To pay an owner so you can use their place or thing for a set time.
   - _We're leasing a two-bedroom apartment near the hospital until our house is finished._
   - _Many small businesses lease their office space rather than buy a building._
3. To let property to a tenant under a lease, as its owner or landlord.
   - Simple: To let someone use your property for a set time under an agreement.
   - _The city leased the old train station to a developer for ninety-nine years._
   - _The family decided to lease the farmland to a neighbor rather than sell it._
8. To assign a temporary IP address to a device on a network.
   - Simple: To give a device on a network an address to use for a limited time.
   - _The DHCP server leased the new printer an address the moment it was plugged in._
   - _Home routers typically lease addresses to phones and laptops for a day at a time._
9. Of a device on a network, to accept the temporary assignment of an IP address.
   - Simple: Of a computer or phone, to take an address from the network for a limited time.
   - _My laptop leased a new IP address as soon as it connected to the hotel network._
   - _Smart bulbs lease an address from the router each time they power on._
10. To tell lies, or to spread lies about someone so as to harm their good name. *(dialectal, UK)*
   - Simple: To tell lies, or to say untrue things about someone to hurt them.
   - _Old Martha leased the new vicar up and down the street, though not a word of it was true._
   - _He'll lease to your face and swear blind it's gospel._
11. To pick or choose, to pick out from among others, or to pick something up. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To pick or choose something, or to pick it up.
   - _The old shepherd would lease the strongest lambs from the flock for market._
   - _He stooped to lease the coins that had rolled under the bench._
12. To gather, bringing things together into one place. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To collect things and bring them together.
   - _Every fall the family would lease walnuts from under the old trees._
   - _By noon the boys had leased enough driftwood to build a fire on the beach._
13. To glean, gathering up what is left in a field after the harvest. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To collect what is left in a field after the crop has been taken in.
   - _Once the reapers had gone, the women were allowed to lease the stubble for loose ears of barley._
   - _She leased a full sack of beans from rows the pickers had already passed._
14. To glean: to go about gathering up whatever has been left behind. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To go around picking up what other people have left behind.
   - _When the market closed, a few old men stayed behind to lease among the empty stalls._
   - _In a hard year the whole village leased in the stubble until dark._
16. To release or let go of something, or to set it loose. *(dialectal, UK)*
   - Simple: To let something go or set it free.
   - _He leased the knot with his teeth when his fingers grew too cold._
   - _Mind you don't lease the calves till the gate's shut._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–9** — From Middle English *lesen, from Anglo-Norman *leser and 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”). The Old High German word is related to Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, leave, rent”), the source of let.
**Meanings 11–14** — From Middle English lesen, from Old English lesan (“to collect, pick, select, gather”), from Proto-Germanic *lesaną (“to gather”).
**Meaning 10** — From Middle English lesen, from Old English lēasian (“to lie, tell lies”), from lēas (“falsehood, lying, untruth”).
**Meaning 15** — From Middle English lese, from Old English lǣs (“meadow”), from Proto-West Germanic *lāsu (“meadow”); see also leasow.
**Meaning 16** — From Middle English lesen, from Old English līesan (“to loosen, release, redeem, deliver, liberate”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną (“to release, loosen”).
**Meaning 17** — Derived from leash.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lease (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).