Releases

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Allows something to go free or escape from confinement or restraint ; makes a product, information, or media available for the public to use or enjoy
2. Frees or liberates something or someone from control or binding ; distributes or issues material to the public, such as reports, films, or software
3. Permits exit or discharge of something held or contained ; formally presents or launches items, announcements, or creative works for public access or consumption

Etymology: "Releases" is simply the plural of the noun "release," and the verb's third-person form, so its history is that of "release" itself. The verb came into English in Middle English as "relesen" or "relessen," borrowed from Old French "relaisser," a variant of "relascher." Behind that lies Latin "laxare," meaning to loosen or slacken, from "laxus" (loose, slack). The Old French form took the Latin prefix "re-" (back, again), so the sense of loosening a hold was built into the word from the start. The English noun and verb were later reshaped by a second process. English speakers also formed "release" from "re-" plus "lease," the word for letting property or a legal right go for a term. Legal writing made "release" a term for formally giving up a claim, and that sense of formal surrender or handing over ran alongside the older sense of freeing something from confinement. The modern meaning of putting out an album or announcement for the public grows naturally from this idea of letting something go into general circulation.

Synonyms: discharges, unleashes, lets go, liberates, issues

Antonyms: captures, restrains, holds, confines, detains