leese meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

leese

verb

/liːz/

Etymology From Middle English lesen, from Old English lēosan, from Proto-West Germanic *leusan, from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”).

Obsolete To lose.

But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet, Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.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:
They would rather leese their friend than their jest.a. 1598, William Cecil, Advice to his son:

2 more examples

Yet better leave off with a little losse, Then by much wrestling to leese the grosse1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Ægloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:
Take heed you leeſe it not Signior, ere you come there: preſerue it.1599 (first performance), B. I. [i.e., Ben Jonson], The Comicall Satyre of Euery Man out of His Humor. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for William Holme, […], published 1600, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, signature O iij, recto:

Obsolete To destroy.

Obsolete To forsake or abandon.

Related terms: forlese

leese

verb

Etymology From Middle English lesen, from Old English lȳsan, līesan (“to loosen, release, redeem, deliver, liberate”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną (“to release, loosen”). Cognate with Dutch lozen, German lösen, Swedish lösa.

Obsolete To release; let go; set free.

Obsolete To loosen, unfasten.

leese

verb

Etymology Compare French léser, Latin laesus.

Obsolete To hurt.