The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Rent \Rent\ (r[e^]nt), n. [F. rente, LL. renta, fr. L. reddita,
fem. sing. or neut. pl. of redditus, p. p. of reddere to give
back, pay. See Render.]
1. Income; revenue. See Catel. [Obs.] "Catel had they
enough and rent." --Chaucer.
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[Bacchus] a waster was and all his rent
In wine and bordel he dispent. --Gower.
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So bought an annual rent or two,
And liv'd, just as you see I do. --Pope.
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2. Pay; reward; share; toll. [Obs.]
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Death, that taketh of high and low his rent.
--Chaucer.
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3. (Law) A certain periodical profit, whether in money,
provisions, chattels, or labor, issuing out of lands and
tenements in payment for the use; commonly, a certain
pecuniary sum agreed upon between a tenant and his
landlord, paid at fixed intervals by the lessee to the
lessor, for the use of land or its appendages; as, rent
for a farm, a house, a park, etc.
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Note: The term rent is also popularly applied to compensation
for the use of certain personal chattels, as a piano, a
sewing machine, etc.
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4. (Polit. Econ.)
(a) That portion of the produce of the earth paid to the
landlord for the use of the "original and
indestructible powers of the soil;" the excess of the
return from a given piece of cultivated land over that
from land of equal area at the "margin of
cultivation." Called also economic rent, or
Ricardian rent. Economic rent is due partly to
differences of productivity, but chiefly to advantages
of location; it is equivalent to ordinary or
commercial rent less interest on improvements, and
nearly equivalent to ground rent.
(b) Loosely, a return or profit from a differential
advantage for production, as in case of income or
earnings due to rare natural gifts creating a natural
monopoly.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Black rent. See Blackmail, 3.
Forehand rent, rent which is paid in advance; foregift.
Rent arrear, rent in arrears; unpaid rent. --Blackstone.
Rent charge (Law), a rent reserved on a conveyance of land
in fee simple, or granted out of lands by deed; -- so
called because, by a covenant or clause in the deed of
conveyance, the land is charged with a distress for the
payment of it. --Bouvier.
Rent roll, a list or account of rents or income; a rental.
Rent seck (Law), a rent reserved by deed, but without any
clause of distress; barren rent. A power of distress was
made incident to rent seck by Statute 4 George II. c. 28.
Rent service (Eng. Law), rent reserved out of land held by
fealty or other corporeal service; -- so called from such
service being incident to it.
White rent, a quitrent when paid in silver; -- opposed to
black rent.
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Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FOREHAND RENT, Eng. law. A species of rent which is a premium given by the
tenant at the time of taking the lease, as on the renewal of leases by
ecclesiastical corporations, which is considered in the nature of an
improved rent. 1 T. R. 486; 3 T. R. 461; 3 Atk. 473; Crabb. on R. P. Sec.
155.