Library / English Dictionary

RENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of rending or ripping or splitting something

Example:

he gave the envelope a vigorous rip

Synonyms:

rent; rip; split

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("rent" is a kind of...):

tear (the act of tearing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An opening made forcibly as by pulling apart

Example:

she had snags in her stockings

Synonyms:

rent; rip; snag; split; tear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("rent" is a kind of...):

gap; opening (an open or empty space in or between things)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or service

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("rent" is a kind of...):

annuity in advance (an annuity paid in a series of more or less equal payments at the beginning of equally spaced periods)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rent"):

ground rent (payment for the right to occupy and improve a piece of land)

peppercorn rent (very low or nominal rent)

rack rent (an extortionate rent)

Derivation:

rent (engage for service under a term of contract)

rent (grant use or occupation of under a term of contract)

rent (let for money)

rent (hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services)

rental (of or relating to rent)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The return derived from cultivated land in excess of that derived from the poorest land cultivated under similar conditions

Synonyms:

economic rent; rent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("rent" is a kind of...):

issue; payoff; proceeds; return; take; takings; yield (the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Engage for service under a term of contract

Example:

Shall we take a guide in Rome?

Synonyms:

charter; engage; hire; lease; rent; take

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rent" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Derivation:

rent (a payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or service)

rental (the act of paying for the use of something (as an apartment or house or car))

renter (someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Grant use or occupation of under a term of contract

Example:

I am leasing my country estate to some foreigners

Synonyms:

lease; let; rent

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rent" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rent"):

sublease; sublet (lease or rent all or part of (a leased or rented property) to another person)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sentence examples:

They rent cars to the tourists

They rent the tourists their cars

Also:

rent out (grant the services of or the temporary use of, for a fee)

Derivation:

rent (a payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or service)

renter (an owner of property who receives payment for its use by another person)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Let for money

Example:

We rented our apartment to friends while we were abroad

Synonyms:

lease; rent

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "rent" is one way to...):

contract; undertake (enter into a contractual arrangement)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Derivation:

rent (a payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or service)

renter (an owner of property who receives payment for its use by another person)

renting (the act of paying for the use of something (as an apartment or house or car))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services

Synonyms:

charter; hire; lease; rent

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "rent" is one way to...):

contract; undertake (enter into a contractual arrangement)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Derivation:

rent (a payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or service)

renter (someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Masts and booms, tangled with shrouds, sheets, and rent canvas, were rubbing gently alongside.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The woman rent a cabin on the hill, and for one week I see her no more.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

This was corroborated by his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house together with the rent due, in English money.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Sir, it removed my veil from its gaunt head, rent it in two parts, and flinging both on the floor, trampled on them.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I shall let Everingham, and rent a place in this neighbourhood; perhaps Stanwix Lodge.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

From below came the fatal roaring where the wild current went wilder and was rent in shreds and spray by the rocks which thrust through like the teeth of an enormous comb.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Roderigo rent his chains asunder manfully, and Hugo died in agonies of remorse and arsenic, with a wild, "Ha! Ha!"

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A more considerable degree of wandering attended the third repetition; and, after completing the fourth, she immediately added, Only think, my dear, of my having got that frightful great rent in my best Mechlin so charmingly mended, before I left Bath, that one can hardly see where it was.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

They were a family of the name of Martin, whom Emma well knew by character, as renting a large farm of Mr. Knightley, and residing in the parish of Donwell—very creditably, she believed—she knew Mr. Knightley thought highly of them—but they must be coarse and unpolished, and very unfit to be the intimates of a girl who wanted only a little more knowledge and elegance to be quite perfect.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But when, one morning, the air was rent with the report of a rifle close at hand, and a bullet smashed against a tree trunk several inches from One Eye's head, they hesitated no more, but went off on a long, swinging lope that put quick miles between them and the danger.

(White Fang, by Jack London)