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lease

UK/liːs/US/liːs/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,238 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: leases

A lease is the rental contract that fixes the price and how long you may stay. Sign a lease, the lease expires, a ten-year lease.

It gives exclusive possession for a fixed term, which is what makes it a lease rather than a licence — a lodger has a licence and a tenant has a lease, and the difference decides what rights they have. A new lease of life is a fresh start. Note that the word comes from the French for letting go.

Keashif · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of lease

  1. 1nounleaseA rental contract fixing price and term.B2

    “We signed a two-year lease on the flat.”

lease is a contract.

Where it comes from

Old French laisier means to let go, from Latin laxare, to loosen. Lax and release come from the same loosening.

  1. Old High German

    lāzan — to let, let go, release

  2. Latin

    laxō — to loose

  3. Old French

    lesser

  4. Anglo-Norman

    *leser

  5. Middle English

    *lesen

  6. English, today

    lease

Built from

  • laisier · Old French — to let, let go

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Around the House

Practise this word

lease in the wild

  • Since 1974, the U.S. has paid the Cuban government an annual sum equivalent to $4,085 in 1934 dollars to lease the bay.

    Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

  • The lease was previously $2,000 per year (paid in gold) until 1934, when it was set to match the value of gold in dollars.

    Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

  • There are many different types; a rental agreement tends to refer to short-term rental, whereas lease refers to longer-term rental, also known as leasing.

    Renting

  • Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased.

    Lease

  • In essence, a lease agreement is a contract between two parties: the lessor and the lessee.

    Lease

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • leasehold