Definition of: release

(ri·lēs′) v.t. ·leased, ·leas·ing
1. To set free; liberate; deliver from worry, pain, obligation, etc.
2. To free from something that holds, binds, etc.
3. To permit the circulation, sale, performance, etc., of, as a motion picture, phonograph record, or news item.
—noun
1. The act of releasing or setting free, or the state of being released; liberation from restraint of any kind.
2. A deliverance or final relief, as from anything grievous or oppressive.
3. A discharge from responsibility or penalty, as from a debt.
4. Law An instrument of conveyance by which one of two persons having a mutual interest in lands surrenders and relinquishes all his interest and estate to the other; quitclaim.
5. A motion picture, phonograph record, news item, or the like ready for distribution or circulation.
6. Exhaust of motive fluid in a steam engine; also, the point at which such exhaust begins.
7. Mech. Any catch or device to hold and release a mechanism, weights, etc. [<OF relaisser let free <L relaxare. Doublet of RELAX.]
—re·leas′er noun Synonyms (verb): deliver, discharge, disengage, emancipate, exempt, extricate, free, liberate, loose, unbind, unfasten, unloose, untie. See ABSOLVE.