The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lease \Lease\ (l[=e]z), v. i. [AS. lesan to gather; akin to D.
   lezen to gather, read, G. lesen, Goth. lisan to gather; cf.
   Lith lesti to peck.]
   To gather what harvesters have left behind; to glean. [Obs.]
   --Dryden.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lease \Lease\ (l[=e]s), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leased; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Leasing.] [F. laisser, OF. laissier, lessier, to
   leave, transmit, L. laxare to loose, slacken, from laxus
   loose, wide. See Lax, and cf. Lesser.]
   1. To grant to another by lease the possession of, as of
      lands, tenements, and hereditaments; to let; to demise;
      as, a landowner leases a farm to a tenant; -- sometimes
      with out.
      [1913 Webster]

            There were some [houses] that were leased out for
            three lives.                          --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To hold under a lease; to take lease of; as, a tenant
      leases his land from the owner.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lease \Lease\ (l[=e]s), n. [Cf. OF. lais. See Lease, v. t.]
   1. The temporary transfer of a possession to another person
      in return for a fee or other valuable consideration paid
      for the transfer; especially, 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The contract for such letting.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Any tenure by grant or permission; the time for which such
      a tenure holds good; allotted time.
      [1913 Webster]

            Our high-placed Macbeth
            Shall live the lease of nature.       --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Record \Re*cord"\ (r?*k?rd"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Recorded; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Recording.] [OE. recorden to repeat, remind,
   F. recorder, fr. L. recordari to remember; pref. re- re- +
   cor, cordis, the heart or mind. See Cordial, Heart.]
   1. To recall to mind; to recollect; to remember; to meditate.
      [Obs.] "I it you record." --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To repeat; to recite; to sing or play. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            They longed to see the day, to hear the lark
            Record her hymns, and chant her carols blest.
                                                  --Fairfax.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To preserve the memory of, by committing to writing, to
      printing, to inscription, or the like; to make note of; to
      write or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose
      of preserving authentic evidence of; to register; to
      enroll; as, to record the proceedings of a court; to
      record historical events.
      [1913 Webster]

            Those things that are recorded of him . . . are
            written in the chronicles of the kings. --1 Esd. i.
                                                  42.
      [1913 Webster]

   To record a deed, mortgage, lease, etc., to have a copy
      of the same entered in the records of the office
      designated by law, for the information of the public.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

lease
    n 1: property that is leased or rented out or let [syn: lease,
         rental, letting]
    2: a contract granting use or occupation of property during a
       specified time for a specified payment
    3: the period of time during which a contract conveying property
       to a person is in effect [syn: lease, term of a contract]
    v 1: let for money; "We rented our apartment to friends while we
         were abroad" [syn: rent, lease]
    2: hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services
       [syn: rent, hire, charter, lease]
    3: grant use or occupation of under a term of contract; "I am
       leasing my country estate to some foreigners" [syn: lease,
       let, rent]
    4: 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]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

101 Moby Thesaurus words for "lease":
   adverse possession, alodium, bareboat charter, burgage, charter,
   claim, colony, copyhold, de facto, de jure, dependency,
   derivative title, equitable estate, estate at sufferance,
   estate for life, estate for years, estate in expectancy,
   estate in fee, estate in possession, estate tail, farm, farm out,
   fee, fee fief, fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute,
   fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible,
   fee simple determinable, fee tail, feod, feodum, feud,
   feudal estate, fief, fiefdom, frankalmoign, free socage, freehold,
   gavelkind, having title to, hire, hire out, hiring, hold, holding,
   job, knight service, lay fee, lease out, lease-back, lease-lend,
   leasehold, legal claim, legal estate, legal possession, lend-lease,
   let, let off, let out, mandate, occupancy, occupation,
   original title, owning, paramount estate, particular estate,
   possessing, possession, preoccupancy, preoccupation, prepossession,
   prescription, property, property rights, proprietary rights,
   remainder, rent, rent out, rental, reversion, seisin, socage,
   squatting, sublease, sublet, subrent, tenancy, tenantry, tenure,
   tenure in chivalry, title, underlease, underlet, undertenancy,
   usucapion, vested estate, villein socage, villeinhold, villenage



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

LEASE, contracts. A lease is a contract for the possession and profits of
lands and tenements on one side, and a recompense of rent or other income on
the other; Bac. Ab. Lease, in pr.; or else it is a conveyance of lands and
tenements to a person for life, or years, or at will, in consideration of a
return of rent, or other recompense. Cruise's Dig. tit. Leases. The
instrument in writing is also known by the name of lease; and this word
sometimes signifies the term, or time for which it was to run; for example,
the owner of land, containing a quarry, leases the quarry for ten years, and
then conveys the land, "reserving the quarry until the end of the lease;" in
this case the reservation remained in force tin the ten years expired,
although the lease was cancelled by mutual consent within the ten. years. 8
Pick. R. 3 3 9.
     2. To make such contract, there must be a lessor able to grant the
land; a lessee, capable of accepting the grant, and a subject-matter capable
of being granted. See Lessor; Lessee.
     3. This contract resembles several others, namely: a sale,, to
constitute which there must be a thing sold, a price for which it is sold,
and the consent of the parties as to both. So, in a lease there must be a
thing leased, the price or rent, and the consent of the parties as to both.
Again, a lease resembles the contract of hiring of a thing, locatio condudio
rei, where there must be a thing to be hired, a price or compensation,
called the hire, and the agreement and consent of the parties respecting
both. Poth. Bail a rente, n. 2.
     4. Before proceeding to the examination of the several parts of a
lease, it will be proper here to say a few words, pointing out the
difference between an agreement or covenant to make a lease, and the lease
itself. When an agreement for a lease contains words of present demise, and
there are circumstances from which it may be collected that it was meant
that the tenant should have an immediate legal interest in the term, such an
agreement will amount to an actual lease; but although words of present
demise are used, if it appears on the whole, that no legal interest was
intended to pass, and that the agreement was only preparatory to a future
lease, to be made, the construction will be governed by the intention of the
parties, and the contract will be held to amount to no more than an
agreement for a lease. 2 T. R. 739. See Co. Litt. 45 b: Bac. Abr. Leases, K;
15 Vin. Abr. 94, pl. 2; 1 Leon. 129; 1 Burr. 2209; Cro. Eliz. 156; Id. 173;
12 East, 168; 2 Campb. 286; 10 John. R. 336; 15 East, 244; 3 Johns. R. 44,
383; 4 Johns. R. 74, 424; 5 T. R. 163; 12 East, 274; Id. 170; 6 East, 530;
13 East, 18; 16 Esp. R. 06; 3 Taunt. 65; 5 B. & A. 322.
     5. Having made these few preliminary observations, it is proposed to
consider, 1. By what words a lease may be made. 2. Its several parts. 3. The
formalities the law requires.
     6.-1 The words "demise, grant, and to farm let," are technical words
well understood, and are the most proper that can be used in making a lease;
but whatever words are sufficient to explain the intent of the parties, that
the one shall divest himself of the possession and the other come into it,
for such a determinate time, whether they run in the form of a license,
covenant, or agreement, are of themselves sufficient, and will, in
construction of law, amount to a lease for years as effectually as if the
most proper and pertinent words had been made use of for that purpose. 4
Burr. 2209; 1 Mod. 14; 11 Mod. 42; 2 Mod. 89; 3 Burr. 1446; Bac. Abr.
Leases; 6 Watts, 362; 3 M'Cord, 211; 3 Fairf. 478; 5 Rand. 571; 1 Root, 318.
     7.-2. A lease in writing by deed indented consists of the following
parts, namely, 1. The premises. 2. The habendum. 3. The tenendum. 4. The
reddendum. 5. The covenants. 6. The conditions. 7. The warranty. See Deed.
     8.-3. As to the form, leases may be in writing or not in writing. See
Parol Leases. Leases in writing are either by deed or without deed; a deed
is a writing sealed and delivered by the parties, so that a lease under seal
is a lease by deed. The respective parties, the lessor and lessee, whose
deed the lease is, should seal, and now in every case, sign it also. The
lease must be delivered either by the parties themselves or their attorneys,
which delivery is expressed in the attestation "sealed and delivered in the
presence of us." Almost any manifestation, however, of a party's intention
to deliver, if accompanied by an act importing such intention, will
constitute a delivery. 1 Ves. jr. 206.
     9. A lease may be avoided, 1. Because it is not sufficiently formal;
and, 2. Because of some matter which has arisen since its delivery.
    10.-1. It may be avoided for want of either, 1st. Proper parties and a
proper subject-matter. 2d. Writing or, printing on parchment or paper, in
those cases where the statute of frauds requires they should be in writing.
3d. Sufficient and legal words properly disposed. 4th. Reading, if desired,
before the execution. 5th. Sealing, and in most cases, signing also; or,
6th. Delivery. Without these essentials it is void from the beginning.
    11.-2. It may be avoided by matter arising after its delivery; as,
1st. By erasure, interlineation, or other alteration in any material part;
an immaterial alteration made by a stranger does not vitiate it, but such
alteration made by the party himself, renders it void. 2d. By breaking or
effacing the seal, unless it be done by accident. 3d. By delivering it up to
be cancelled. 4th. By the disagreement of such whose concurrence is
necessary; as, the husband, where a married woman is concerned. 5th. By the
judgment or decree of a court of judicature.