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.

Release \Re*lease"\, n.
   1. The act of letting loose or freeing, or the state of being
      let loose or freed; liberation or discharge from restraint
      of any kind, as from confinement or bondage. ``Who
      boast'st release from hell.'' --Milton.

   2. Relief from care, pain, or any burden.

   3. Discharge from obligation or responsibility, as from debt,
      penalty, or claim of any kind; acquittance.

   4. (Law) A giving up or relinquishment of some right or
      claim; a conveyance of a man's right in lands or tenements
      to another who has some estate in possession; a quitclaim.
      --Blackstone.

   5. (Steam Engine) The act of opening the exhaust port to
      allow the steam to escape.

   {Lease and release}. (Law) See under {Lease}.

   {Out of release}, without cessation. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   Syn: Liberation; freedom; discharge. See {Death}.