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.