Rent, v. t. To tear. See
Rend. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Rent, 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.
[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. [Obs.]
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.
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.
Rent, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Rented; p. pr. & vb. n.
Renting.] [F. 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, v. i. To be leased, or let
for rent; as, an estate rents for five hundred dollars a
year.
Rent (r?nt), v. i. To rant.
[R. & Obs.] Hudibras.
Rent, imp. & p. p. of
Rend.
Rent (?), n. (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, 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.
Rent, n. [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.
Shak.
2. Figuratively, a schism; a rupture of
harmony; a separation; as, a rent in the church.
Syn. -- Fissure; breach; disrupture; rupture; tear;
dilaceration; break; fracture.