easements

Noun

easement (countable and uncountable, plural easements)

1. An interest in land which grants the legal right to use another person's real property (real estate), generally in order to cross a part of the property or to gain access to something on the property (right of way).
   • The power company has an easement to put their electricity poles along the edge of this land.
2. An element such as a baseboard, handrail, etc., that is curved instead of abruptly changing direction.
   • The curved part of the rail where it joins the newel is called an easement. Often, however, the rail joins the newel without an easement.1986, Jack P[ayne] Jones, “Designing and Building Stairs”, in Handbook of Construction Contracting, volume 1 (Plans, Specs, Building), Carlsbad, Calif.: Craftsman Book Company, →ISBN, page 240
3. (archaic) Easing; relief; assistance; support.
   • There are alſo many Deſerts, and many mountains diſioyning the prouinces farre aſſunder. Heerin it reſembleth Spain, where for want of Nauigable riuers (except towards the ſeacoaſt) trafficke is little vſed, and mountains and prouinces lie vnmanured for ſcarcity of moiſture. But Nature vnwilling...1611, anonymous [Giovanni Botero], “The Fourth Booke. Of Asya.”, in Robert Johnson, transl., Relations, of the Most Famovs Kingdoms and Common-weales throvgh the World. Discoursing of their...
4. (archaic, euphemistic) The act of relieving oneself: defecating or urinating.
   • [T]he lowest servants at Hampton Court used the great communal toilet capable of seating fourteen people at once named the ‘Common Jakes’ or the ‘Great House of Easement’. This giant facility discharged into a tank which was washed clean by the waters of the moat. Even so, the tank emitted a...2011, Lucy Worsley, “The Whole World is a Toilet”, in If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 153
5. (model railroading) Transition spiral curve track between a straight or tangent track and a circular curved track of a certain radius or selected radius.
6. Gratification.