leese

From Middle English lesen, from Old English *lēosan (only attested in compounds: belēosan, forlēosan, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”).

leese (third-person singular simple present leeses, present participle leesing, simple past and past participle leesed)

1. (obsolete) To lose.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 5:

     But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,

     Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

   • Lord Burleigh

     They would rather leese their friend than their jest.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lȳsan, līesan (“to let loose; release”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną. Cognate with Dutch lozen, German lösen, Swedish lösa.

leese (third-person singular simple present leeses, present participle leesing, simple past and past participle leesed)

1. (obsolete) To release, set free.
2. (obsolete) To loosen, unfasten.