Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rent

Rent (rent) , intransitive verb

To rant. [Rare & Obsolete] — Hudibras

Rent (rent) , imperfect and past participle

imp. & past participle of Rend.

Rent (rent) , noun

[From Rend.]

1.
An opening made by rending; a break or breach made by force; a tear.
See what a rent the envious Casca made. — Shakespeare
2.
Figuratively, a schism; a rupture of harmony; a separation; as, a rent in the church.

Rent (rent) , transitive verb

To tear. See Rend. [Obsolete] — Chaucer

Rent (rent) , noun

[French rente, Late Latin renta, from Latin reddita, fem. sing. or neut. plural of redditus, past participle of reddere to give back, pay. See Render.]

1.
Income; revenue. See Catel. [Obsolete]
Catel had they enough and rent. — Chaucer
[Bacchus] a waster was and all his rent In wine and bordel he dispent. — Gower
So bought an annual rent or two, And liv'd, just as you see I do. — Pope
2.
Pay; reward; share; toll. [Obsolete]
Death, that taketh of high and low his rent. — Chaucer
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.

The term rent is also popularly applied to compensation for the use of certain personal chattels, as a piano, a sewing machine, etc.

4.
(a) (Polit. Econ.) 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)
(Polit. Econ.) 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.
Collocations (7)
Black rent , See Blackmail, 3.
Forehand rent , rent which is paid in advance; foregift.
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.

Rent , transitive verb

[French 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.
2.
To take and hold under an agreement to pay rent; as, the tennant rents an estate of the owner.

Rent , intransitive verb

To be leased, or let for rent; as, an estate rents for five hundred dollars a year.