The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rent \Rent\ (r[e^]nt), v. t.
   To tear. See Rend. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rent \Rent\ (r[e^]nt), v. i.
   To rant. [R. & Obs.] --Hudibras.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rent \Rent\ (r[e^]nt),
   imp. & p. p. of Rend.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rent \Rent\ (r[e^]nt), n. [From Rend.]
   1. An opening made by rending; a break or breach made by
      force; a tear.
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            See what a rent the envious Casca made. --Shak.
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   2. Figuratively, a schism; a rupture of harmony; a
      separation; as, a rent in the church.
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   Syn: Fissure; breach; disrupture; rupture; tear;
        dilaceration; break; fracture.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rent \Rent\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rented; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Renting.] [F. renter. See Rent, n.]
   1. To grant the possession and enjoyment of, for a rent; to
      lease; as, the owwner of an estate or house rents it.
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   2. To take and hold under an agreement to pay rent; as, the
      tennant rents an estate of the owner.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rent \Rent\, v. i.
   To be leased, or let for rent; as, an estate rents for five
   hundred dollars a year.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rend \Rend\ (r[e^]nd), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rent (r[e^]nt); p.
   pr. & vb. n. Rending.] [AS. rendan, hrendan; cf. OFries.
   renda, randa, Fries. renne to cut, rend, Icel. hrinda to
   push, thrust, AS. hrindan; or cf. Icel. r[ae]na to rob,
   plunder, Ir. rannaim to divide, share, part, W. rhanu, Armor.
   ranna.]
   1. To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to
      tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock
      in blasting; lightning rends an oak.
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            The dreadful thunder
            Doth rend the region.                 --Shak.
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   2. To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force.
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            An empire from its old foundations rent. --Dryden.
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            I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. --1 Kings
                                                  xi. 11.
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   To rap and rend. See under Rap, v. t., to snatch.
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   Syn: To tear; burst; break; rupture; lacerate; fracture;
        crack; split.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

rent
    n 1: a payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an
         owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or
         service
    2: an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart; "there was a
       rip in his pants"; "she had snags in her stockings" [syn:
       rip, rent, snag, split, tear]
    3: the return derived from cultivated land in excess of that
       derived from the poorest land cultivated under similar
       conditions [syn: economic rent, rent]
    4: the act of rending or ripping or splitting something; "he
       gave the envelope a vigorous rip" [syn: rent, rip,
       split]
    v 1: let for money; "We rented our apartment to friends while we
         were abroad" [syn: rent, lease]
    2: grant use or occupation of under a term of contract; "I am
       leasing my country estate to some foreigners" [syn: lease,
       let, rent]
    3: engage for service under a term of contract; "We took an
       apartment on a quiet street"; "Let's rent a car"; "Shall we
       take a guide in Rome?" [syn: lease, rent, hire,
       charter, engage, take]
    4: hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services
       [syn: rent, hire, charter, lease]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

217 Moby Thesaurus words for "rent":
   abrasion, abysm, abyss, aggravated, arroyo, bareboat charter,
   blemish, box canyon, breach, break, breakage, broach, broken, burn,
   burned, burst, busted, canyon, cavity, chafe, chap, charter, chasm,
   check, checked, chimney, chink, chinky, chip, chipped, cleave,
   cleft, cleuch, clough, cloven, col, concussion, coulee, couloir,
   crack, cracked, crackle, cranny, craze, crazed, crevasse, crevice,
   cut, cut apart, cut open, cwm, damaged, defile, dehiscent, dell,
   deteriorated, dike, dispart, ditch, divaricate, divide, donga,
   draw, embittered, exacerbated, excavation, farm, farm out, fault,
   fee, fissure, fissured, fissury, flash burn, flaw, flume, fly open,
   fracture, fray, frazzle, furrow, gall, gap, gape, gaping, gappy,
   gash, gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, harmed, hire, hire out,
   hiring, hole, hurt, impaired, imperfect, in bits, in pieces,
   in shards, in shreds, incise, incision, injured, injury, irritated,
   job, joint, kloof, lacerate, lacerated, laceration, lay open, leak,
   lease, lease out, lease-back, lease-lend, lend-lease, lesion, let,
   let off, let out, mangled, moat, mortal wound, mutilated,
   mutilation, notch, nullah, ope, open, open up, opening, part, pass,
   passage, puncture, quartered, quitrent, rack rent, ragged, ravine,
   rent charge, rent out, rent-roll, rental, rift, rime, rimose,
   rimulose, rip, rive, riven, run, rupture, ruptured, scald, scalded,
   scale, schism, scissure, scorch, scorched, scrape, scratch, scuff,
   seam, second-degree burn, separate, severed, shattered, shredded,
   slash, slashed, slice, slit, slot, smashed, sore, splinter,
   splintered, split, spread, spread out, spring open, sprung, stab,
   stab wound, sublease, sublet, subrent, swing open, tap, tattered,
   tear, tear open, the worse for, third-degree burn, throw open,
   torn, trauma, trench, underlet, valley, void, wadi, weakened,
   worse, worse off, worsened, wound, wounds immedicable, wrench



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Rent
   (Isa. 3:24), probably a rope, as rendered in the LXX. and
   Vulgate and Revised Version, or as some prefer interpreting the
   phrase, "girdle and robe are torn [i.e., are 'a rent'] by the
   hand of violence."


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

RENT, estates, contracts. A certain profit in money, provisions, chattels,
or labor, issuing out of lands and tenements in retribution for the use. 2
Bl. Com. 41; 14 Pet. Rep. 526; Gilb., on Rents, 9; Co. Litt. 142 a; Civ.
Code of Lo. art. 2750; Com. on L. & T. 95; 1 Kent, Com. 367; Bradb. on
Distr. 24; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Crabb, R. P. SSSS 149-258.
     2. A rent somewhat resembles an annuity, (q.v.) their difference
consists in the fact that the former issues out of lands, and the latter is
a mere personal charge.
     3. At common law there were three kinds of rents; namely, rent-service,
rent-charge, and rent-seek. When the tenant held his land by fealty or other
corporeal service, and a certain rent, this was called rent-service; a right
of distress was inseparably incident to this rent.
     4. A rent-charge is when the rent is created by deed and the fee
granted; and as there is no fealty annexed to such a grant of rent, the
right of distress is not in incident; and it requires an express power of
distress to be annexed to the grant, which gives it the name of a rent-
charge, because the lands are, by the deed, charged with a distress. Co.
Litt. 143 b.
     5. Rent-seek, or a dry or barren rent, was rent reserves by deed,
without a clause of distress, and in a case in which the owner of the rent
had no future interest or reversion in the land, he was driven for a remedy
to a writ of annuity or writ of assize.
     6. But the statute of 4 Geo. II. c. 28, abolished all distinction in
the several kinds of rent, so far as to give the remedy by distress in cases
of rents-seek, rents of assize, and chief rents, as in the case of rents
reserved upon a lease. In Pennsylvania, a distress is inseparably incident
to every species of rent that may be reduced to a certainty. 2 Rawle's Rep.
13. In New York, it seems the remedy by distress exists for all kinds of
rent. 3 Kent Com. 368. Vide Distress; 18 Viner's Abr. 472; Woodf, L. & T.
184 Gilb. on Rents Com. Dig. h.t.. Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.
     7. As to the time when the rent becomes due, it is proper to observe,
that there is a distinction to be made. It becomes due for the purpose of
making a demand to take advantage of a condition of reentry, or to tender it
to save a forfeiture, at sunset of the day on which it is due: but it is not
actually due till midnight, for any other purpose. An action could not be
supported which had been commenced on the day it became due, although
commenced after sunset; and if the owner of the fee died between sunset and
midnight of that day, the heir and not the executor would be entitled to the
rent. 1 Saund. 287; 10 Co. 127 b; 2 Madd. Ch. R. 268; 1 P. Wms. 177; S. C. 1
Salk, 578. See generally, Bac. Ab. h.t.; Bouv. Inst. Index h.t.; and
Distress; Reentry.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

RENTE. In the French funds this word is nearly synonymous with our word
annuity.