Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RE-LEASE, v.t. [This is usually derived from Fr. relâcher, to slacken, to relax, It. rilassare and rilasciare, and these words have the sense of release; but the English word has not the sense of relax, but of re and lease, from Fr. laisser, Eng. let, a word that has no connection with relax. So in G. freilassen, D. vrylaaten; free and let. If it is from relâcher, it has undergone a strange alteration.]

1. To set free from restraint of any kind, either physical or moral; to liberate from prison, confinement or servitude. – Matth. xv. Mark xv.
2. To free from pain, care, trouble, grief, &c.
3. To free from obligation or penalty; as, to release one from debt, from a promise or covenant.
4. To quit; to let go, as a legal claim; as, to release a debt, or forfeiture. – Deut. xv.
5. To discharge or relinquish a right to lands or tenements, by conveying it to another that has some right or estate in possession, as when the person in remainder releases his right to the tenant in possession; when one co-parcener releases his right to the other; or the mortgagee releases his claim to the mortgager.
6. To relax. [Not in use.] – Hooker.