lessee
(lɛˈsiː)
Also 6–7 leas(s)ee, 7 lesse.
[a. AF. lessee, OF. lessé, pa. pple. of lesser, lessier, mod.F. laisser to leave: see lease v.3 and -ee.]
A person to whom a lease is granted; a tenant under a lease.
| [a 1481 Littleton Inst. §57 Il y ad le Feoffor, & le Feoffee, le Donor & le Donee, le Lessor & le Lessee.] 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 9 §2 Lessees..[shall] fynde goode and suffycient suertie. 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 8 The lessees..shall defalke, abate, and reteine..as muche of the rentes dewe to the lessours, as thei can proue, to haue expended on the same pauinge. 1587 Harrison England ii. xii. (1877) i. 242 If the leassee be thought to be worth an hundred pounds. 1614 W. B. Philospher's Banquet (ed. 2) 260 The Lesse most leaudly the rent did retaine. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. ii. 17 The Leasees of our Society did work the Mines of Consumlock and Talibont. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1209 If executrix of lessee for years of a rectory take husband, the husband and wife may [etc.]. 1884 Yates Recoll. I. v. 187 The lessee..placed my name on his free list, and for years I went to his theatre once or twice a week. |
Hence leˈsseeship, the condition or position of a lessee.
| 1812 Holt in Examiner 28 Dec. 831/2 That lesseeship was worth nothing. 1884 Yates Recoll. I. v. 186 Mr. E. T. Smith..in his time entered on theatrical lesseeship on a large and varied scale. |