1. A contract granting use or occupation of property during a specified period in exchange for a specified rent or other form of payment.
2. The term or duration of such a contract.
tr.v. leased, leas·ing, leas·esIdiom:
1. To grant use or occupation of under the terms of a contract.
2. To get or hold by such a contract.
a new lease on life
An opportunity to improve one's circumstances or outlook.
[Middle English les, from Anglo-Norman, from lesser, to lease, variant of Old French laissier, to let go, from Latin laxāre, to loosen, from laxus, loose; see slēg- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.