I. rent 1 S2 W3 /rent/ BrE AmE verb
1 . [intransitive and transitive] to regularly pay money to live in a house or room that belongs to someone else, or to use something that belongs to someone else:
Most students rent rooms in their second year.
I’d rather have my own house than rent.
rent something from somebody
Some farmers rent their land from the council.
2 . ( also rent out ) [transitive] to let someone live in a house, room etc that you own, or use your land, in return for money SYN let British English
rent something (out) to somebody
She rents out two rooms to students.
3 . [transitive] especially American English to pay money for the use of something for a short period of time SYN hire British English :
Will you rent a car while you’re in Spain?
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THESAURUS
■ to pay money to use something
▪ rent to pay money to use a house, room, vehicle, piece of equipment, area of land etc:
He rented a room in a house on the Old Kent Road.
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They flew out to New York and rented a car at the airport.
▪ hire British English to pay money to use a car or a piece of clothing or equipment for a short period of time:
Why don't we hire a van for the day?
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You can hire suits for weddings.
▪ lease to have a legal agreement under which you pay money to a person or company in order to use a building, area of land, vehicle, piece of equipment etc for a fixed period of time :
They leased the offices from an American company.
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The car is leased from BMW.
■ to allow somebody to use something for money
▪ rent/rent something out to allow someone to use a house, room, vehicle, piece of equpiment, area of land etc in return for money:
She rents the flat out to students.
▪ let/let something out to allow someone to use a room, house, building etc in return for money:
Some people don't want to let rooms to foreigners.
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They let the house out while they were on holiday.
▪ lease/lease something out to make a legal agreement which allows a person or company to use something that you own for a fixed period of time:
Santa Clara ' s Redevelopment Agency leased the existing city golf course to developers.
rent at/for something phrasal verb
if a house rents at or for an amount of money, that is how much you must pay to use it:
Houses here rent for at least $1,500 a week.
II. rent 2 S2 W3 BrE AmE noun
[ Sense 1-3: Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: rente , from Vulgar Latin rendita , from Latin reddere ; ⇨ ↑ render ]
[ Sense 4: Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: rend ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] the money that someone pays regularly to use a room, house etc that belongs to someone else:
I pay the rent at the beginning of every month.
rent of
an annual rent of £8,000
2 . [uncountable and countable] especially American English an amount of money that you pay to use a car, boat etc that belongs to someone else:
The rent was only $20 an hour.
3 . for rent available to be rented:
Luxury villas for rent.
4 . [countable] formal a large tear in something made of cloth:
huge rents in the curtains
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COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + rent
▪ high
Rents in the city centre are very high.
▪ low
Our workers get low rents and other advantages.
▪ exorbitant (=extremely high)
Some landlords charge exorbitant rents.
▪ fixed
The rent is fixed for three years.
▪ affordable (=which people can easily pay)
The government plans to provide more homes at affordable rents.
▪ the annual/monthly/weekly rent
Our annual rent is just over $15000.
▪ ground rent British English (=rent paid to the owner of the land that a house, office etc is built on)
There is an additional ground rent of £30 per month.
▪ a peppercorn rent British English (=an extremely low rent)
The colonel let us have the cottage for a peppercorn rent.
▪ back rent (=rent you owe for an earlier period)
Mrs Carr said she is still owed several thousand dollars in back rent.
▪ the rent is due (=it must be paid at a particular time)
The rent is due at the beginning of the week.
■ verbs
▪ pay the rent
She couldn’t afford to pay the rent.
▪ increase/raise the rent ( also put up the rent British English )
The landlord wants to put up the rent.
▪ fall behind with the rent/get behind on the rent (=fail to pay your rent on time)
You could be evicted if you fall behind with the rent.
▪ collect the rent
His job is to collect the rents from the tenants.
▪ the rent increases/goes up
The rent has gone up by over 50% in the last two years.
■ rent + NOUN
▪ a rent increase
How can they justify such big rent increases?
▪ rent arrears British English (=money that you owe because you have not paid your rent)
The most common debts were rent arrears.
▪ a rent book British English (=a book that shows the payments you have made in rent)
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THESAURUS
▪ cost the amount of money you need to buy or do something. Cost is usually used when talking in a general way about whether something is expensive or cheap rather than when talking about exact prices:
The cost of running a car is increasing.
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the cost of raw materials
▪ price the amount of money you must pay for something that is for sale:
They sell good-quality clothes at reasonable prices.
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the price of a plane ticket to New York
▪ value the amount of money that something is worth:
A new kitchen can increase the value of your home.
▪ charge the amount that you have to pay for a service or to use something:
Hotel guests may use the gym for a small charge.
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bank charges
▪ fee the amount you have to pay to enter a place or join a group, or for the services of a professional person such as a lawyer or a doctor:
There is no entrance fee.
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The membership fee is £125 a year.
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legal fees
▪ fare the amount you have to pay to travel somewhere by bus, plane, train etc:
I didn’t even have enough money for my bus fare.
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fare increases
▪ rent the amount you have to pay to live in or use a place that you do not own:
The rent on his apartment is $800 a month.
▪ rate a charge that is set according to a standard scale:
Most TV stations offer special rates to local advertisers.
▪ toll the amount you have to pay to travel on some roads or bridges:
You have to pay tolls on many French motorways.
III. rent 3 BrE AmE
the past tense and past participle of ↑ rend