Definition: lease

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

lease
     n 1: property that is leased or rented out or let [syn: rental,
           letting]
     2: a contract granting use or occupation of property during a
        specified time for a specified payment
     3: the period of time during which a contract conveying
        property to a person is in effect [syn: term of a
        contract]
     v 1: let for money; of housing [syn: rent]
     2: hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and
        services [syn: rent, hire, charter]
     3: grant use or occupation of under a term of contract; "I am
        leasing my country estate to some foreigners" [syn: let,
         rent]
     4: engage in a commercial transaction; "We took an apartment on
        a quiet street"; "Let's rent a car"; "Shall we take a
        guide in Rome?" [syn: rent, hire, charter, engage,
         take]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Lease \Lease\, n. [Cf. OF. lais. See Lease, v. t.]
   1. A demise or letting of lands, tenements, or hereditaments
      to another for life, for a term of years, or at will, or
      for any less interest than that which the lessor has in
      the property, usually for a specified rent or
      compensation.

   2. The contract for such letting.

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

            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.
Lease \Lease\, v. i. [AS. lesan to gather; akin to D. lezen to
   gather, read, G. lesen, Goth. lisan to gather; cf. Lith lesti
   to peck.]
   To gather what harvesters have left behind; to glean. [Obs.]
   --Dryden.
Lease \Lease\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leased; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Leasing.] [F. laisser, OF. laissier, lessier, to leave,
   transmit, L. laxare to loose, slacken, from laxus loose,
   wide. See Lax, and cf. Lesser.]
   1. To grant to another by lease the possession of, as of
      lands, tenements, and hereditaments; to let; to demise;
      as, a landowner leases a farm to a tenant; -- sometimes
      with out.

            There were some [houses] that were leased out for
            three lives.                          --Addison.

   2. To hold under a lease; to take lease of; as, a tenant
      leases his land from the owner.
Record \Re*cord"\ (r?*k?rd"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Recorded; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Recording.] [OE. recorden to repeat, remind,
   F. recorder, fr. L. recordari to remember; pref. re- re- +
   cor, cordis, the heart or mind. See Cordial, Heart.]
   1. To recall to mind; to recollect; to remember; to meditate.
      [Obs.] ``I it you record.'' --Chaucer.

   2. To repeat; to recite; to sing or play. [Obs.]

            They longed to see the day, to hear the lark Record
            her hymns, and chant her carols blest. --Fairfax.

   3. To preserve the memory of, by committing to writing, to
      printing, to inscription, or the like; to make note of; to
      write or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose
      of preserving authentic evidence of; to register; to
      enroll; as, to record the proceedings of a court; to
      record historical events.

            Those things that are recorded of him . . . are
            written in the chronicles of the kings. --1 Esd. i.
                                                  42.

   To record a deed, mortgage, lease, etc., to have a copy
      of the same entered in the records of the office
      designated by law, for the information of the public.