from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Rent \Rent\ (r[e^]nt), 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.
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[Bacchus] a waster was and all his rent
In wine and bordel he dispent. --Gower.
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So bought an annual rent or two,
And liv'd, just as you see I do. --Pope.
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2. Pay; reward; share; toll. [Obs.]
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Death, that taketh of high and low his rent.
--Chaucer.
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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.
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Note: The term rent is also popularly applied to compensation
for the use of certain personal chattels, as a piano, a
sewing machine, etc.
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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.
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