Rent

v. i. To be leased, or let for rent; as, an estate rents for five hundred dollars a year. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To rant. [ R. & Obs. ] Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. & p. p. of Rend. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Rend. ] 1. An opening made by rending; a break or breach made by force; a tear. [ 1913 Webster ]

See what a rent the envious Casca made. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Figuratively, a schism; a rupture of harmony; a separation; as, a rent in the church. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Fissure; breach; disrupture; rupture; tear; dilaceration; break; fracture. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To tear. See Rend. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. rente, LL. renta, fr. L. reddita, fem. sing. or neut. pl. of redditus, p. p. of reddere to give back, pay. See Render. ] 1. Income; revenue. See Catel. [ Obs. ] “Catel had they enough and rent.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Bacchus ] a waster was and all his rent
In wine and bordel he dispent. Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

So bought an annual rent or two,
And liv'd, just as you see I do. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pay; reward; share; toll. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Death, that taketh of high and low his rent. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term rent is also popularly applied to compensation for the use of certain personal chattels, as a piano, a sewing machine, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Polit. Econ.) (a) 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) 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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Black rent. See Blackmail, 3. --
Forehand rent, rent which is paid in advance; foregift. --
Rent arrear, rent in arrears; unpaid rent. Blackstone. --
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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being rented, or suitable for renting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. rentage. ] Rent. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]