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.
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   2. The contract for such letting.
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   3. Any tenure by grant or permission; the time for which such
      a tenure holds good; allotted time.
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            Our high-placed Macbeth
            Shall live the lease of nature.       --Shak.
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   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:

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.
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   2. Relief from care, pain, or any burden.
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   3. Discharge from obligation or responsibility, as from debt,
      penalty, or claim of any kind; acquittance.
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   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.
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   5. (Steam Engine) The act of opening the exhaust port to
      allow the steam to escape.
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   6. (Mach.) A device adapted to hold or release a device or
      mechanism as required; specif.: (Elec.) A catch on a
      motor-starting rheostat, which automatically releases the
      rheostat arm and so stops the motor in case of a break in
      the field circuit; also, the catch on an electromagnetic
      circuit breaker for a motor, which acts in case of an
      overload.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   7. (Phon.) The act or manner of ending a sound.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   8. (Railroads) In the block-signaling system, a printed card
      conveying information and instructions to be used at
      intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   Lease and release. (Law) See under Lease.

   Out of release, without cessation. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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   Syn: Liberation; freedom; discharge. See Death.
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Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

LEASE AND RELEASE. A species of conveyance, invented by Serjeant Moore, soon
after the enactment of the statute of uses. It is thus contrived; a lease,
or rather bargain and sale, upon some pecuniary consideration, for one year,
is made by the tenant of the freehold to the lessee or bargainee. This,
without any enrollment, makes the bargainor stand seised to the use of the
bargainee, and vests in the bargainee the use of the term for one year, and
then the statute immediately annexes the possession. Being thus in
possession, he is capable of receiving a release of the freehold and
reversion, which must be made to the tenant in possession; and, accordingly,
the next day a release is granted to him.
     2. The lease and release, when used as a conveyance of the fee, have
the joint operation of a single conveyance. 2 Bl. Com. 339; 4 Kent, Com.
482; Co. Litt. 207; Cruise, Dig. tit. 32, c. 11.