ease

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   lessen the intensity of or calm

   The news eased my conscience

2. 2
   verb

   move gently or carefully

   I eased myself into the chair.

3. 3
   noun

   freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

   They rose through the ranks with apparent ease.

4. 4
   noun

   freedom from constraint or embarrassment

   I am never at ease with strangers

5. 5
   noun

   a freedom from financial difficulty that promotes a comfortable state

   a life of luxury and ease

6. 6
   noun

   Lack of difficulty; the ability to do something easily.

   He played the ukelele with ease.

7. 7
   noun

   Comfort, a state or quality lacking unpleasantness

   She enjoyed the ease of living in a house where the servants did all the work.

8. 8
   noun

   Relief, an end to discomfort

   Take one pill every 12 hours to provide ease from pain.

Etymology

From Middle English ese, eise, aise, from Anglo-Norman ese (“ease”), from Old French eise, aise (“elbow room; opportunity”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Apparently related to Provençal ais, Italian agio and asio, Sicilian aciu and Portuguese azo. Sometimes ascribed to Vulgar Latin *āsia or *āsium, possibly from Latin ānsa (“handle, haft”) or Frankish *ansiju (“handle, loophole, eyelet; cup-handle; arms akimbo, elbow room”), but more often derived from Vulgar Latin *adjace(m), from Latin adjacēns (“adjacent, neighbouring”), present participle of adjaceō (“lie next to, border on”), though t…