leese

See also: Leese and léëse

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːz/
• Rhymes: -iːz
• Homophones: lees, leas

Etymology 1

From Middle English lesen, from Old English *lēosan (only attested in compounds: belēosan, forlēosan, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”).

Verb

leese (third-person singular simple present leeses, present participle leesing, simple past lore or leesed, past participle lorn or leesed)

1. (obsolete) To lose.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 5”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,
     Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

   • a. 1598, William Cecil, Advice to his son:

     They would rather leese their friend than their jest.

   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Aegloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, →OCLC:

     Yet better leave off with a little losse,
     Then by much wrestling to leese the grosse

   • 1599 (first performance; published 1600), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man out of His Humour. A Comicall Satyre. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Take heed you leese it not, 'signior, ere you come there; preserve it.

Related terms

• forlese

Etymology 2

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lȳsan, līesan (“to let loose; release”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną. Cognate with Dutch lozen, German lösen, Swedish lösa.

Verb

leese (third-person singular simple present leeses, present participle leesing, simple past and past participle leesed)

1. (obsolete) To release, set free.
2. (obsolete) To loosen, unfasten.

Etymology 3

Compare French léser, Latin laesus.

Verb

leese

1. (obsolete, transitive) To hurt.